A Single Flower
by Raiden Miosaki
Summary: Wang Yao has silently looked after Ivan ever since he was a child. But when tragedy hits his homeland, will he turn the tables, and look to Ivan for comfort? Or will he be prideful, and let himself fade away...?
1. Ivan

-1200-

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—"

"You're counting too fast!"

"Sorry, aru…"  
The taller nation started to count again, slowly this time.  
Standing in the dark, feeling as if he was alone, but knowing that he wasn't.

He felt as if anything could jump out at him at any moment.

"One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…"

It was honestly too cold to be playing games like this.  
China could feel the cool air against his skin. He wiggled his toe inside small shoes, realizing his feet were freezing, basically numb.

He wrapped the scarf that the small child had given him around his mouth and nose, pushing out a hot shot of breath, trying to warm his face.  
His hands were shielded by the mittens that the same little child had lent him, but the cold was pushing through.

But he wasn't going to show weakness by giving up on their little game.

"Forty five…forty six…forty seven…forty eight…forty nine…fifty.."

Wang Yao opened his eyes the small flakes of snow that was starting to pour down brushing against his forehead.  
Everything around him was dark, the sun had nearly set completely, leaving everything a blue-ish black, soon the world would turn pitch black for the night.

He blinked multiple times.

He trudged about in the white wonderland, finding no sign of the small child.

"Little one..?" China questioned.

"It's getting really late, aru…give me a hint..?"

Yao got no answer from the smaller nation.

He sighed, exasperated.

"Aiyaah!" China cried out, feeling slightly worried now.

"Little one! Please come out of hiding, aru! I-I don't think I can put up with this game!"

Yao was now running around frantically.  
What if that small child had died, of the cold, stuck in this frozen wasteland?  
It would be his fault, wouldn't it?

Suddenly, the tiny Asian man tripped over a bump in the snow, he wore a stunned look, not being able to stop himself from falling.

He nearly fell face-first, but use his hands as a shield, making his feel even colder.

Wang Yao held back a scream of pain.  
He let out a shaky breath.

"Looks like you found me, da.." The tiny voice murmured.  
The small child rose out of the snow.

He'd been hidden under a blanket of snow. In other words, he'd been the bump Yao had tripped over.

Yao was startled, but right away realized what had happened.  
He turned to face small child with an accent that he'd never heard before.  
It was odd.  
That's what came with a new nation, though.

"I was starting to get worried about you, aru.." China whispered to the little nation.

The tiny nation scooted closer to the nation that seemed so much bigger than him in and felt his hands.

The little nation's hands were bare, as he had given his mittens away to China.

"You're cold, da… I can feel your hands through the mittens…"

China was tired, and irritated.  
His face was flushed, red.

"Well! Of course they're cold, aru! What do you expect, we're basically in a frozen hellhole!"  
He hadn't meant to snap at the child, but he couldn't take it back.

Yao felt his heart beginning to pound, as the little one's lilac colored eyes teared up.

"W-why you come here, if you are just here to yell at me..?" The tiny nation whimpered.

"No, no, aru.." China soothed, pulling the little one onto his lap.  
He was warmer than he, but still cold.

"I'm sorry.."  
The little nation snuggled against the Asian man's chest.  
China stroked the child's snow covered blonde hair.

"Why did you come here really, da..?" The little one whispered.  
"I came, aru… because I heard you're a nation, like me.. is it true?"

The little one perked up, looking at the tiny Asian man.

"Da! I am!" He grinned, sheepishly, his little voice enthusiastic.  
"Who are you?"

China managed to grin softly at the tiny nation, even though he was freezing.  
"I'm China.." He answered.  
"But my human name is Wang Yao… who might you be, aru?"

"I'm Russia!" The little one giggled.

"My human name is… well! I-I don't have one, da~!"

He quickly lost his enthusiasm as suddenly, a cold breeze swept over both of the nations.

He shuddered, and began shaking from the cold.  
Yao, by instinct, quickly took off the burrowed scarf, and wrapped it around the little child's neck once again.  
Yao was hardly dressed for this kind of weather considering the fact that it wasn't even winter China started to figure that this was how the little one's home always was.

Yao stood, lifting up the little child with him, cradling him, and letting him lay his head on his shoulder.  
He kept his arms wrapped around the tiny child for the sake of warmth, and comfort to the little one.

With a deep breath, China started trudging through the snow, back towards his home.  
He planned on taking the little one back with him, just for a little while.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Russia, aru.." China replied, even though it was delayed.

Russia wrapped his tiny arms around the older, and stronger nation.

China's home wasn't far off, considering that he had barely entered the new country. The little one had been close to reaching China, himself.  
Yao figured he'd been searching for human contact, but he'd found him first.

"Ivan.." China whispered.

"W-what..?" Russia questioned, softly.

"Ivan. That's what I'm going to call you, for your human name, aru.."

The name wasn't anything close to China's culture, but he figured that the name fit him.  
It had just suddenly come to his mind.

He wasn't sure if this little one already belonged to someone else as an underling.  
But he didn't even really want an underling, did he?  
No.  
He had just seen the tiny nation, and he had seemed so alone.  
He couldn't just leave anyone like that especially one with such little experience in the cruel world they lived in.

…

Ivan opened his eyes.  
He still felt the older nation's arms cradling him.  
He must have dozed off.  
He looked around, the older nation was one-handedly lighting a candle.

"Mr. Yao..?" The little nation asked, finally speaking.

Yao was slightly startled, since the little one hadn't said a word for at least a half hour. He'd figured he'd fallen asleep for the night.

"Yes, little one..?" Yao answered.

"Ogromnoe spasibo …" He whispered.

"What, aru?" Yao asked, confused.

"it mean…"thank you" thank you very much… thank you greatly.."

"Aaah…" China nodded, as he lied him gently in his bed, taking off the tiny nation's boots, coat, and scarf.  
"Anytime, Little Ivan.."

Ivan loved the sound of his new-found name on the Chinese man's lips.  
He closed his eyes again, as he felt the older nation climb under the blankets with him, curling up.  
The last thing Ivan saw before Yao blew out the candle, was a single sunflower in a vase.

A/N: Okay~! Ohai. .3. It's me. I'm back with another RoChu story~ Yeah. It's like, my first one-shot of them didn't get popular, but this isn't a one-shot. I randomly got the idea. Follow, favorite, and review..? Thank you~


	2. Brilliant Red

"You can't catch me, Mei!" Yong-Soo giggled.

A small exasperated Mei, pouted her lip as she chased the slightly taller little boy.

Kiku laid in the grass despite all this running and jumping, his nose in a book, ignoring his older brother and sister completely.

Wang Yao, smiled softly looking at the scene of his three siblings running around the garden. He wasn't concerned by Kiku's quiet behavior, as some guardians might have been. He knew that was just how the small nation was.

The sun was high in the sky, and it beat down on the Asian family, for it was summer.

Yao held a book gently in his graceful hand.  
His long sleeves covered his arms and wrists completely, going halfway over his hands as well.  
He tried not to let the hotness bother him.

Yao took pride in his garden that he'd worked so hard to grow. Flowers of many different colors filled the garden.  
It was the most beautiful garden in his entire homeland.

He watched Taiwan and South Korea for another moment. The two Asian nations were just happy to be together.  
Mei had finally caught up to Yong-Soo and was now holding onto his arm, both of them were giggling.

Kiku remained the same. Stuck in his book, his sketchpad by his side, as well.

China turned back to his book for a moment, only to be interrupted by Mei who ran over to him, smiling.  
Her silky black hair blew against her face, and the small girl tapped Yao's shoulder.  
"Aniki~!" She grabbed hold on China's arm, lightly pecking him on the cheek.

"I have something for you~!"

Yao laughed, looking at the little girls bright eyes.

"Really now, aru? Lets see it."

Mei nodded, and took something out from behind her back.

It was a sunflower, hand-picked from his own garden, that they all stood in.  
Yao didn't mind though, he appreciated the small Asian girl's kindness.

"Thank you, aru!" China grinned, taking it from her.

"Seriousry..? Give it back to me, Yong-Soo.." Kiku's voice was soft, but China could hear it.

Yong-Soo had picked up his Japan's sketchbook, and was now looking through the pictures.

"What is this?" Yong-Soo looked confused.

"It's carred, anime! And it wirr be a huge success!" Japan pouted.

"Suuuure, Kiku~ come play with me and Mei!" Yong-Soo tugged at Kiku's arm.

"No." Kiku answered, simply.

He quickly grabbed his sketchbook away from him, and started lugging his things through the garden, looking for a place where he would not be disturbed by pesky siblings.

"Go on and play with Yong-Soo, aru." Mei nodded, and ran right back over to her Yong-Soo.

Would Kiku ever lighten up and play with his siblings?  
China doubted it.  
Japan just saw the world different from the others nations, Yao was the only one who understood that.

China turned back to his book, but found himself just staring at the words, and not reading them at all.  
His eyes kept drifting back to the sunflower that was in his left hand.

Who did it remind him of?  
Ivan…  
The little nation he'd met nearly six months ago.  
He closed his eyes remembering the scene.

He'd heard the news of there being a new nation.  
He'd trudged out into the snow, to find a small child sitting there alone in the cold, innocently and enthusiastically talking to himself.  
He'd stepped on a twig, and the small child had asked if he was there to play with him.  
China hadn't been able to say no to those innocent eyes, and had gotten himself wrapped up into a cold game of hide and seek.

He'd ended up carrying the small nation home with him, and keeping him for the night.  
He'd stuck around that night, snuggling close to China, but the next morning after thanking the older nation, he explained that he had to get back to his homeland, and he'd left, just like that.

"Ivan.." He whispered the small nation's name. He hadn't seen him since.

He took another look at his younger siblings.

Then he stood.  
They were almost always there, all gathered together as a family, but by nightfall, they all returned to their homelands.  
Wang Yao stood, his thoughts quickly changing back to Ivan.

He wondered if the little nation was doing all right.  
Being a nation all on your own was tough… Yao of all people knew that.

He closed his book slowly, softly putting it under his arm, and heading for the house.  
Once he'd gotten in, he dug out a pair of mittens, snow boots, and a coat.

"What am I even doing, aru?" He asked himself outloud.

If Ivan had wanted to see him, then he would have come.  
But then… just as he'd recalled earlier, being a nation all on your own was.. complicated.

Yao had to be a big part of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and sometimes, Hong-Kong's lives, just to help them get by.

Hong-Kong had pretty much grown up over the years, and didn't need him anymore  
This made Yao sad, but also happy to see that Hong-Kon had grown up to be a strong young nation.

He still had the three littlest ones, but being the oldest nation was hard on him.  
He got to see everyone he ever knew and loved grow older, become uncaring of him, and sometimes, he'd have to live through seeing his friends die.

It was a lot for one nation to endure alone, but he did it.  
He didn't burden any of the Asian countries with his issues. They were too young to understand it.

He headed out the door, all his snow gear in hand. Which must have looked odd to his siblings, since it was summer.

"Aniki~!" Taiwan and South Korea ran up to Yao, tugging at his long sleeves.  
"Where are you going, Aniki?"

Kiku even took interest in the sight of his brother coming out of the house with snowgear.

"It's summer!" South Korea informed.  
"You don't need that stuff!"

"Where are you goring Nii-San..?" Kiku ran over, looking up at him as well.

"It's just… something silly, aru!" Yao informed, kneeling down to their height.  
"If you need anything, Hong-Kong isn't far off."

Kiku pouted slightly, which was odd for him, he didn't usually show much emotion.

China beamed on the inside.  
Was Kiku actually disappointed to see his big brother leave?  
On the outside, Yao kept it subtle, grinning lightly, and very softly ruffling Kiku's mangled black hair.

"I'm going to be back in a few hours, aru!" Yao assured.

"Onii-San just has some things to take care of."

He said those words, mostly eying Kiku.

He knew that Taiwan and South Korea took care of each other, but Kiku seemed lost and alone in the world.  
He wouldn't rely on Taiwan, South Korea, OR Hong-Kong.  
He silently relied on China more than anyone.

"Sayonara, Anikiiii~!" Taiwan giggled.

"Hey Yong-Soo! Tag!"  
With that, she tapped Yong-Soo's shoulder, and then they were chasing each other around again.

Kiku, who stilled looked at Yao straight faced, gave him a small nod.  
"Where are you rearry goring, Nii-San..?" He demanded.

"Just to see another nation, like us, aru." Yao told the little nation.

"You're not goring to war, right?" A slightly visible pang of worry hit his face.  
"No!" China laughed.  
"He's a little nation, like you, aru."  
China patted Kiku's head again, then stood.

"I'll be back later, aru!"

Kiku nodded, and headed back towards his shady spot in the garden.

….

It was just as cold as Yao had remembered it.  
Once he got into Russia's homeland, he had to bundle up in his winter gear that he'd gotten out.

He walked through the snow, as it came down, just as hard as it was the last time he had been there.

Where was the little nation?  
He must have been a lot further off then he had been before.  
Yao made his way through the land the little nation called home.  
How was this place decent for anyone to live?

He walked around for another half hour, and by the Asian man was tired.  
And too cold.

He sighed, softly, sitting down in the snow.  
The blizzard was getting thicker.  
And Yao was too far off to get back to his own homeland now.

He shivered, rubbing his hands together.  
He remembered how Russia had hidden under a blanket of snow.

He sighed.  
It had become his only option.  
He started to burying his body in the snow, when suddenly, he was stunned, because someone cried out, and he found himself pinned to the ground.

Yao blinked multiple times, before he realized he was face-to-face with lilac eyes.

"Who are you, da? I don't have time for trespassers on _my_ land!" Ivan's voice rang out, it was just as little, and adorable as it was before, but it sounded slightly disturbed.

"I-Ivan…" China stuttered.

He knew it was too snowy to see who he was, but it hurt him to see such a young nation being so violent.

The little child gasped at the sound of his human name.

"M-Mr. Yao..?" He whispered.

"Yes, aru.." Yao answered, strained.

"Yao!" The little nation cried out, changing his motives from viscous, throwing his arms around the older nation.

Yao was stunned for half a second again, but then he sighed softly, chuckling a little, and hugging the adorable little nation back.

"I-I thought I'd never see you again, da.." He whispered.

"Why would you think that, aru?" China asked, ruffling the little one's hair.

Russia still held a grip on Yao, holding tightly.

"Because… I thought you left me, like everyone else.." He whimpered.  
"Shh." Yao soothed.

Russia eventually pulled away.  
What Yao saw, startled him to a point where he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not.

"Ivan..?" China asked.  
"Da?" He replied.  
"W-what's on your hands, aru..?"

Yao stared down at the child's hands.  
The child's hands that were stained a brilliant color of red.

A/N: Okay.  
I'm updating so soon, because I got overly excited. BI  
This always happens when I start writing about something that I really like. Also~ just so you know, the thing about the Asian countries isn't accurate. I don't know which of the countries are older than the other. That parts a work of fiction.  
I don't know if Japan is really younger than Taiwan and South Korea, he may very likely be the older one, but for the sake of the story, whatever. They're not actually very important to the story, Japan is, but South Korea, and Taiwan aren't. I'm not even sure if I'll write a scene with Hong-Kong in it, I'll just have to see how it turns out.  
Thanks for the reviews and follows, guise! Give more reviews, please~? Or I will send my Chibi!Russia to your house with his pipe. Kolkolkol~ :3


	3. Gone

"Ivan!" China's eyes were wide in horror.  
He grabbed the small Russian boy's hands, and stared at them.

"What happened, aru?"

No answer.

The snow was letting up a bit, and aside from that, Yao's vision was more clear now.  
Not only was there blood on the child's hands, but there was a streak of red right across his coat, where his stomach was.  
The blood was dry, it had been sitting there for a couple days at least.

China opened his mouth but no words came through.

Ivan was silent as well. The Chinese man looked into the violet eyes of the tiny nation, with his own dark colored eyes.  
The little one furrowed his brow, trying to hide the slight pain that he hid.

"What happened, aru..?" China asked, softly, repeating himself.

Still no answer from the Russian child.

Yao's eyes shifted down to the streak of blood on Ivan's clothing again. He slowly started to unzip his jacket.  
Ivan began to tremble, but Yao managed to ignore it.

He gently lifted up the child's shirt, to find a single scrap, right underneath his chest.  
It looked like it had been deep. But not so deep that it was fatal.  
It had most definitely been dealt out with something sharp, like a blade.

It had scabbed, but it was faintly red all around it.  
It would become seriously infected if it wasn't treated.

China blinked, and reached a steady finger out, and lightly touched the wound to see if Russia was in pain from the minor infection yet.

Ivan hissed, slapping Yao's hand away, sharply, and backing up, only to fall right into the snow.

Yao was startled, but he quickly moved forward, after the child, scooping him out of the snow before he got too cold.

He tenderly asked for the third time.  
"What happened, little one…?"

"Someone picked a fight with me, da.."

China was relieved that this wasn't self-inflicted, but at the same time worried.  
Who in the world had the nerve to attack a nation of his age?

"Who..? Where is this person now, aru?" China asked.

Russia didn't answer.  
His face was straight, but his eyebrows twitched slightly, his innocent-looking eyes filled with tears.

"Ivan..? Tell me, aru..?" China asked, worried.

The Russian boy finally answered.  
"G-gone… they left my land, da…they won't be back."

China was confused.  
The way Ivan twisted his words, made him think he meant something that he wasn't making clear.

"Where are they, aru?"  
"Gone, you no understand me, da?"  
"Gone, _where?"  
_"Gone! They left my land!" Russia's tone was exasperated.

Maybe China was making too big a deal of this.  
Russia had told him the truth, he had no idea why his mind was twisting it into something else.

"Why you keep asking the same question..?" The little teary child asked.

"I'm sorry, aru… I don't know… I'm being silly to pry like that. They're gone and won't hurt you again, that's all that matters."

"D-Da…"  
After that, silence.

He wasn't going to leave him out in the cold.  
Especially with a wound like that.  
"I'm taking you back to my house again, aru.." China informed.

The obviously overly tired, and hurt child was curled up in his arms, but was conscious enough to hear and answer the Asian man.

"The place you took me other time, da?" He whispered.

"Yes, aru.." He nodded.

"But this time, I want you to stay, aru…I won't have a little one like you out in the cold where people will hurt you. I just won't, so you're going to stay with me."

There was no answer from the child for a moment, so Yao started walking.

"…I'll stay…" Russia muttered.

China looked down at the small boy.

"…But not only for a little while, da…?"

A/N: All right~ this chapter was short, but only because if I made it longer, it would ruin the flow of the story. Now~ the whole story doesn't revolve around Yao and the child version of Russia. It will progress, but for awhile, he'll be a child. A have a plotline for this. Theres quite a bit of time skipping in the story, you'll be informed of it, just like how I wrote the first chapter, and the next chapter it was six months later. You'll just have to stick around to see. I don't think I'll update as quickly as I am currently, I know I'll get busy with real life, but for now. Yeah. Heres my second update of the day. BI


	4. I Believe You

"That child is a problem, brother, he weighs you down, and takes time away from what's really important."

A young Wang Jia Long informed China.

China usually listened to his younger brother Hong-Kong. He was wise, even though he was young.  
But, this he couldn't take.

He'd brought the little Russian child back to his house mere weeks, ago, and couldn't even think of letting him go.

"No, aru." China sighed, taking a sip of tea.

"I don't want to argue about this with you."

"See? That's just another thing! Before you brought that little thing home, we never fought. We always found a way to agree. I think that your judgment has been tainted."

"I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, aru." Wang Yao informed, setting down his cup, and crossing his arms.

Hong-Kong seemed shocked by his older brother's statement. He shook his head.

"Brother.. I just want to make sure you Kiku, and the others are safe, and happy."

China sighed.  
"I'm the older one, I know what I'm doing, aru."

Wang Jia Long looked at his older brother blankly, shaking his head once again.  
"Fine. I'll drop the matter for now."

Wang Yao shook his brother hand, before he slipped out the back door, and headed back to his own land.

Yao looked out the window, and saw that the sky was pink, the sun was setting for the night and Ivan was still outside.  
Wang Yao had sent the little nation outside when he found out his brother had come to him to complain about the fact that he was there.

Wang Yao walked out the door, and then went through the entrance of the garden where he always sent the children to play.

"Ivan, aru?" He called out.

"It time to come back inside!"

He got no answer from the Russian child.  
It was odd, since the he had become accustomed to China.

He was clingy towards him at times, in a very cute way.  
He always held his hands out to Wang Yao as if he wanted to be picked up by the older nation.

But today, the older nation received no answer from the tiny little nation.

This didn't worry Wang Yao. There was no reason for Ivan to run off, and the area he had made sure was safe for children. It had to be since this was the place where his siblings played.

"Ivan, aru?" He asked again.

He went past the sunflowers, and of course found him there.  
The child was oddly attracted to sunflowers.

"Ivan, I was calling for you, aru!" He informed.

The child was sitting in the tall over grown part of the garden. His legs were cross and he was looking down at something else that was on the ground.  
Wang Yao came closer, confused, and then his eyes locked onto what the younger nation was staring at.

It was an animal.  
Lifeless on the ground.  
A river fox, but it didn't look as if it had died of natural causes.

It lied there, sprawled out in the grass, it's entrails hanging out, blood soaked into the dirt around it.  
It was very torn up in different places, and the blood was fresh, new, China could even smell the blood in the air.

It was a sight that would make a normal person sick to their stomach, so many things leaking from the poor dead animal's stomach, but Yao had seen this type of thing before.

But, beside the dead creature, Yao noticed was the poor little Russian child he had taken in.  
His Violet eyes locked on the torn up thing that had once been an animal.

"Ivan…" China said softly, confused as to how this happened.

"What did you—"

"I didn't kill it," The younger nation cut him off, his voice firm.

Wang Yao walked around to the other side to get a good look at the child's eyes.

They were staring right at the animal.  
Burning into it.

His expression was sick. Stunned.

He looked like he didn't understand.

"Ivan—"

"I didn't kill it!" The child repeated, this time, louder, and with more force.

"I never said you did, aru." China said, keeping a soft tone.

He understood the child's fragile state.

There was a silence between the two nations.  
China studied things about the Russian boy, besides his expression.  
His hands were covered in blood, and his clothes are well were riddled in it.

Had the child _in fact _ killed that poor animal?

His expression didn't change. His eyes continued to burn into the animal.

His lip trembled a tiny bit.

"Go inside, aru.." China told him.  
He didn't need to look at the broken animal anymore, it was hurting him.

He didn't move.

"Ivan, please.."

"…I didn't kill it," Ivan repeated to the older nation a third time.  
This time his voice was soft, and there was a tremble in it.

"Go clean yourself up, aru." China told him.

He lifted the little nation, and set him on the other side of the sunflowers, on his feet.

He wasn't sure what had happened, but he didn't have time to talk to Russia about it at the moment.  
He knew anything he said would upset the fragile child at the moment.

After he set Russia down, he went back towards the corpse of the animal.  
He sighed.  
It was a shame that the poor animal had to die.  
He picked it up, and started to carry away to a place where he'd be able to bury it.

He heard someone running through the grass.  
And suddenly, the corpse was knocked out of the older nation's hands, hitting the ground making it become even more of a gory mess.

Before Yao could say a thing, he was tackled to the ground.

"You don't believe me…" The child cried.  
Tears filled his eyes, and he was trembling.

He held Wang Yao to the ground, his voice breaking into sobs.

"I didn't kill it… I didn't… kill it…"

Wang Yao sighed.

"I believe you, aru, it's okay… shhh.."

He unpinned himself and sat up, hugging the little nation, even though he didn't mean his words.  
He didn't completely believe that Russia hadn't done anything to that poor animal.

But he could let it go.  
But, really… why had he done it? He seemed so innocent, and yet sometimes China doubted his sanity.

Russia tried to calm down, but he couldn't. He continued to cry into his shoulder, forcing China to want to comfort him more.

He held him closely stroking his hair.  
"Shh… it's okay, Ivan… calm down.."

Ivan sniffled, quieting his sobs down, but nonetheless, still crying.

China decided that he hadn't meant to hurt the animal.  
Ivan was way more important to the older nation than a silly animal anyway.

A/N: Okay. I can't decide if this chapter is psychotic, sad, or sweet.  
Maybe, all?  
Yeah. Most of my writing is really considered K rated, but it's moments like this that make me rate it T anyway.  
No hate for this part, 'kay? I actually feel proud of it.. Review, please? Thankzies!


	5. Not An Innocent Child

Ivan stared at the sunflowers that bloomed up high in Yao's garden. He muttered to himself, constantly, being alone, and having no one else to talk to.  
The little Russian was used to being alone, due to all the months he spent alone in the snow.

"Should I pick the flower..?" He whispered to himself.  
"Nyet. Mr. Yao wouldn't like that.."  
He continued to stare at the flowers, sitting on the ground.

Suddenly he recalled the animal that had been in the garden only days ago.  
He tried to shake the thought away but he couldn't.

"I didn't kill it," He told himself.  
He kept on whispering that to himself over and over.  
Maybe if he kept on saying that, he'd start to believe it.

The truth is..he hadn't meant to hurt the animal.  
But yes, he had killed it.

He swore he could still smell the foxes blood on his hands.  
He kept on washing them, scrubbing them over and over, trying to get rid of the haunting scent, but he couldn't.  
It felt as if it was stuck to his skin.  
Could Yao smell it too?

Did he really believe him at all?

"He believes me, da.. Mr. Yao wouldn't lie about that." He said to himself.

"Aniki wouldn't lie about, what~?" Taiwan peeked over, and skipped over to where Ivan was sitting.

That's right.. Yao's little sister. She often ran around in the garden as well.

"Nothing, da.." He shrugged.  
Mei giggled sitting down beside him.

"Oh~!" She said.

"Aniki talks about you a lot, he must really like you.."

Ivan was startled by these words.  
Yao…really liked him?

"Really?" Ivan asked the girl that was slightly taller than himself.

"Haaaaai." She giggled again.

The Russian was going to say something in reply, but before he could three more Asian children.

Yong-Soo, and Kiku, accompanied by an older boy.  
Hong-Kong.  
China had been speaking with Hong-Kong the other day when he'd been sent outside.

"Mei, play with Kiku now.." Hong-Kong said, once he saw Mei talking with the blonde haired child.

"O-oh…okay, Nii-San." Taiwan looked at me, before running up to her brothers who were under a tree in the shade whispering about something.

Ivan shook his head, secretly sad that he was being left alone again.

He turned back to the sunflowers.

"I need to speak with you.." Hong-Kong informed.  
Ivan looked up.

"Hm?" Ivan asked, quickly looking up again.

Hong-Kong sighed, and looked down at the small child.  
"You're a problem." He said, bluntly.

"W-what…?" Ivan asked.

"Brother has always been caring, but he can't care for you, he's already got too much on his plate with Mei, Yong-Soo, and Kiku."

Ivan blinked, trying to realize what the slightly older nation was trying to tell him.

"Da…and?" He asked.

"You need to leave, Ivan. Go find yourself a brother you can be an underling for, anyone but Yao. He won't pursue you for long, if he sees you've replaced him." Hong-Kong said this all softly.  
He wasn't happy to be so cruel and blunt towards a child.

The little Nation couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"B-but… I-I love Mr. Yao.. I don't want anyone else." Ivan started to tear up. He didn't understand why this person who was related to Mr. Yao was trying to get rid of him.

"Listen, Ivan. I can see through your act." Hong-Kong said.  
"My brother can't see it, but I can. You're not an innocent little child. You're out in the world looking for blood."

Ivan felt anger rising.  
How could he say things like this? When he killed he killed for a reason.  
Every nation had to kill to survive, right?

"Nyet! I'm not out for blood!" He cried, tears coming to his eyes.

"Yao told me about the river fox."

Ivan gasped a little, turning silent.

"W-what did Mr. Yao say about me..?" He whispered.

"He doesn't believe that you didn't kill it, but he also thinks it was by mistake." Hong-Kong said.  
"But I'm not innocent like my brother." He informed.

"I know the fox was not mistake. You killed it because you wanted to, right?"

Ivan couldn't take this.  
Why was this person acting this way towards him?

He threw himself at him, and tried to tackle him to the ground.  
He wanted to hit him, and yank that pretty black hair he kept on his head.  
He wanted to make him pay for all that he'd said.  
But Hong-Kong saw it coming, and grabbed Ivan's wrist, twisting it back, then throwing him to the ground.

Ivan felt a stinging pain in his wrist that he'd never felt before.  
What had he done to him..?

What was this pain?  
He couldn't wrap his mind around it…

He opened his eyes, he'd had them squeezed shut ever since he hit the ground.

He tried to move his wrist, but that just sent another jolt of pain right into the little child, nearly making him cry out.

"Now…how about you just go?" Hong-Kong asked.

And with that, Ivan charged out of the garden.

A/N: SHORT. CHAPTER IS SHORT. BI But yeah~! This is one of the last chapters that involves Child!Russia. There may or may not be one more about him. I haven't decided.  
But yeah. Could you leave a review? Just tell me your opinions on all this. Ivan's behavior. Would you forgive him for what he did to the animal in the previous chapter? And do you think it was a mistake, or did Ivan kill because he just wanted to? Please leave your opinion, or this subject, or another subject~


	6. Dreams

What the young Russian saw made him sick.  
He couldn't take it, and he could already feel tears welling up in his eyes.  
Wang Yao, the only friend he'd ever managed to get for himself, was now on the ground.  
A pool of blood turning the snow red.

"Y-Yao!?" The young nation stuttered.

"Yao.." His voice was teary.  
He began shaking the Chinese man by the shoulder.  
There was no answer.

Ivan felt his pulse.  
It was barely there, and fading.  
His breath hard to hear over the sound of the hard wind.

"Y-Yao…" The Russian choked out a sob, hugging Yao's nearly lifeless body.

"I-I'm sorry…"

…

The Russian boy woke with a start, he nearly threw himself into a sitting position but the grip of his two sisters kept him stuck to the bed.  
His heart was pounding fast, and cold sweat ran down his face.

It'd been years since he'd seen China, why couldn't he just forget about him? He wasn't that important.

He looked to the side, and saw his tiny little sister, Belarus. She clung to him, her arms around his waist, and her head snuggled up to him, his arm underneath it to support her.

She slept soundly, her breath continual.  
Ukraine was on the other side.  
She lied on her side, both arms around him, tightly.

His two sisters had a room and bed of their own, but they often snuck in during the night because it was so cold.  
Russia sighed, and tried to pull away from his sisters, only to wake his youngest one.

"You are going somewhere, big brother?"  
The older Russian boy groaned a little scooting a little closer to the child, putting his arms around her again.

"Nyet, Natalia, I am not going anywhere."  
The little girl, clung to his arm with both of her own, and buried her face in his chest.

"Good. I am glad, da… we'll be together forever, da, big brother?" The tired little girl asked.

"Da, Natalia, forever.." The Russian sighed.

She nodded, and said nothing else.

Ivan waited until his sister was asleep again, he took himself right from her arms, and slide off the bed, leaving the room.  
He snuck off to the living area.

The fire was just coals now, hardly even warm anymore.

He sighed once more.  
His sisters were under a ton of blankets, so they'd be fine for the rest of the night.  
He couldn't stop overthinking that dream he'd had about Yao. He was always dreaming of him, and he couldn't understand why.

He looked out the window, the snow was calm, and still on the ground.  
The sky was turning blue, the darkness slowly fading away, letting the morning take it's place.

There was something satisfying about seeing your own blood.  
Streaks of red streaming down your cold skin, then hitting the ground with a heart wrenching "drip".  
First complete silence.  
The a soft sound of the blood hitting the ground.

The Russian couldn't get over this.  
He enjoyed seeing his own blood.  
He watched the pretty red drip.

Of course when he started to feel sick, he stopped the bleeding instantly.  
He had promised himself that one day he would become stronger, and he couldn't do so if he was dead.

He took a pocket knife from his pocket, and he stared it down for a moment.  
He rolled up his sleeves, only to find his arms completely bandaged up already.

There was no place there where he could cut without killing himself.

He lifted his shirt a bit, cutting his own side, lightly.  
And then he watched his own blood flow down landing in perfect splatters.

He looked back to make sure his sisters hadn't woken.  
He didn't want them to see him like this, it would be too much for either of them to handle.

The blood was starting to come to a stop, so the Russian made the cut a little longer, and deeper.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

His blood continued to hit the floor.  
He licked his own blood right from the knife, and then put it away, before he convinced himself that he would be allowed to cause my damage.  
He couldn't.  
Not at the moment anyway.

…

"Aiyah!" Wang Yao shouted out exasperated.  
He lightly hit his head over his desk.

"I'm not having time to deal with this, aru!"

China's boss had been over whelming the Chinese man with so much paper work lately, he hardly had anytime to spend with his siblings.  
"I am getting tired of all this, aru! I do not need extra allies, I raised so many countries already, I'm not going to need any other allies!"

Taiwan sat by her brothers desk.  
The sun was now coming up, and they were both still awake.

"Maybe your boss is afraid we won't all stay with you, Aniki~?" The girl asked.  
So many years had passed, she now had the body of a 12 year old girl, she was no long tiny.

Wang Yao missed his younger siblings being little, it was odd not to have a bunch of children running around the garden.

But he was glad that they all stuck with him so closely.

"That is crazy talk, aru! None of you are planning on leaving me!"  
Mei had an almost guilty look on her face, but then she smiled and nodded.  
"You're right, Aniki. I'm sure your boss is just being cautious."

Wang Yao had caught his younger sister's expression, but decided to ignore it. It was probably nothing.

"Anyway. Maybe you could get that boy from a few years ago as your ally?" The girl suggested.

"Which one, aru?" China asked, knowing perfectly well who his younger sister was speaking of.

"Uh… Ivan." His younger sister had to think for a second to remember his name.  
But Yao didn't.  
The name was still fresh in his mind.

Years ago, he had taken off.  
He had gone back to his land to look for him, but he'd never seen the small Russian boy again.  
He wasn't even positive he was still alive.

Yao nodded at his younger sister.

"Yes, aru. Maybe he will be one of my allies someday."

Wang Yao could never understand why.  
He had fallen in love with the tiny Russian child after all that time, had come to think of him as another sibling.  
And then randomly he had just left.  
Without saying goodbye.

Wang Yao sighed again.

"Mei, you should get some sleep, aru. The sun will be up soon."

The girl nodded, kissing him on the cheek.  
"Oyasumi then, Nii-San."

With that, Taiwan left.

The Russian boy had always seemed like he was pretty good at fending off things on his own, but Yao couldn't help but worry all the time.  
Over the years, there hadn't been one day when Wang Yao had forgotten the boy.

He had been so cute, and at the same time, he had this personality that could terrify others.

Yao couldn't put his finger on it.  
He sighed, getting back to his paperwork.

He didn't sleep. He couldn't stand the thought of maybe dreaming about the Russian yet again.

A/N: Sorry for the pointless chapter, broskies. The next would should be better~! Reviews~? Pleeease? BI


	7. Speaking Up

-1936-

Wang Yao raced through the crowded city, muttering to himself.  
"I am not having time for these kind of distractions, aru! I have paper work to be doing at home!"  
He dodged the civilians.

Everyone was happy, and smiling, and seemed to be at peace. It had been that way for awhile, and Wang Yao was glad for that.

But he was busy as ever, always signing papers, and doing other kinds of work in between.  
He had to hire his sister Mei to care for his garden because he was so busy he hardly even had time for that.

China's younger brother, Japan, had seemed odd lately.  
Distant.  
Sad, almost.  
It was odd to see any emotion in him for once. And now he was too busy to deal with it.  
Taiwan seemed to be hiding something, and Yao just didn't have the time to figure out why.  
The Chinese man finally arrived home, and he dropped his groceries on the counter without even bothering to put them away.

He ran straight back to his desk, and started tiredly filing the papers his boss had left him with.

His sister, Mei, opened the screen door, letting in the cool spring air.  
"Aniki~?" She peeked through the open door, timid, as if she was afraid to disturb her older brother.

"Nihao~" Yao didn't look up from his work.

Taiwan slipped into the room where the Chinese man worked hard on his paper work, non-stop.

"Nii-San..?" She looked down on him timidly.

"Not now, aru…" China brushed her off, not meaning to seem rude, or uncaring.  
Taiwan understood that he had work to do, with his new boss always keeping him so busy.  
But she was insistent, she started tugging at his sleeve.

"Nii-San! It's really important!"

Yao slowly looked up at his sister.  
"What is it…?"

Taiwan looked nervous.  
"U-umm.. it's Japan.. theres something you need to know about him." She hung her head.

…

"You are having to brace yourself for the cold, brother," Natalia informed, wrapping Ivan's scarf around his neck tighter, to insure that no snow was going to slip in between.

Ivan smiled lightly at his little sister.  
While, she terrified him, she still constantly tried to be a good sister. She seemed to be the motherly type sometimes, she acted older than he even felt he, himself was.  
That was just at times. At others he was being chased around the room, and he felt like she was the most frightening irritating, immature sister that ever walked on the planet earth.

"Da~ I know my own homeland, sister. Spasibo, though."

She kissed him on the cheek.  
The Russian was glad that this was one of the days his little sister chose to be relatively calm.

His older sister, stepped into the room, hugging him lightly.  
"Good-bye, brother. We'll be taking care of your homeland while you're gone."

"Da! For sure." Natalia informed.

Ivan ruffled his little sister's hair, and then his older sister's.

"I am glad I can trust you both.:  
And with that, the tall Russian stepped through the door, out into the cold.

Truth be told, he was glad his sisters didn't ask a lot of questions.  
I'd checked on both of my sister's lands, to make sure everything was all right.  
With all the things that had gone on in his own homeland, he didn't want to risk his sisters being in danger.

His people had been suffering from famine, for nearly a year.  
He'd lost a good amount of his land in the process, and his people were finally done suffering.  
But he was still suffering, more than ever.

His sisters loved him, but in the back of their minds, they feared and hated him. They'd seen him snap many times. They'd seen what he could do.  
They'd watched him take countless lives, and for what?

He remembered years before, he'd broken down crying, right in front of them both.  
He had cried because he was scared.  
Because he was sorry.  
Because the lives that he'd taken were slowly eating him alive.

After a week within a kill, he could remember the persons last facial expression.  
Their last words.  
Everything.  
But the longer he lived, the more it faded.  
The faces and names faded, but the pain didn't.

He quickly blinked the tears away.

He'd never meant to hurt anyone, and yet. It had all gone too far.  
He wanted to just walk away, and forget about everything.  
He wanted to go back to when he was innocent.

His innocence had only lasted a short period of time. But it had been the best time ever. He remembered smiling, and actually having a reason to.

He used to be able to look at himself in the mirror, and feel nothing.  
All he saw was a clear reflection of a small innocent boy trying to find his way in the world.

But when he looked in the mirror currently, he couldn't see anything.  
It was all a blur.  
Just a bunch of faded memories in a pool of broken glass.

The Russian stopped in his tracks.  
He hung his head, staring down at his feet.  
He exhaled. He could see his own breath.  
It was cold, but the sky was clear.

How had he turned out the way he was?  
Why?  
The world was so cruel…  
The Russian quickly shook the feeling. If he let his mind drift off… he would be able to forget, right?

He started to walk again, and eventually he made it to the next land over.  
He stopped right there, sitting on the ground, and shaking his head at the stinging pain in his arms, legs, and sides.

He sat there, silently, ignoring the pain.  
He waited, until he heard what he'd been called there to hear.

"Nihao..?" A small timid girl-like voice said, softly, getting Ivan's attention.

Ivan looked up, and smiled that smile that he often kept plastered to his face.

"Pryvet~" He answered, in his childish, and yet, somehow grim voice.

He looked up to see the girl that he'd met so many years ago as a child.  
After all this time, he still remembered her face.

"Ne.. you are Ivan…correct?" The timid girl questioned.

She'd grown taller, but she was a small girl, still.  
But a lot taller compared to when they'd first met.  
When Ivan had met the small Asian country, she'd been only a child, as he had been as well.

Ivan stood, which made the girl seem even shorter, since he was so tall.

"Da~ I am Ivan. You are Mei, right? I am remember correctly?"

The girl nodded.

"H-hai…"

The girl was cute, especially how timid she was. It slowly occurred to the Russian that she might have been afraid, like a lot of people were of him.

He was tall, and not exactly the most non-scary person in the world.  
He petted the Asian county's head, trying to comfort her and tell her she was in no danger.  
She smiled a bit.

"You called… for a reason? You said it was urgent." Russia told Taiwan.

She nodded.  
"I called you to brother's homeland… because he needs help." She said, softly.

"Which brother might you being speaking of..?" Ivan asked, confused, knowing of how many Asian siblings there were.  
She took a while to answer.

"I-I didn't know of anyone else I could turn to.." She went on, babbling.

"Y-you'll help him, right..?"

Ivan furrowed his brow, concerned.  
"Who?"

She went silent again before answering.

"…Yao."

_A/N: Okay~! So, in case you didn't realize, Ivan is no longer a child of any sort. He's grown like he is in the TV show, though not AS old, because of course, this is before the time periods they showed in the show.  
Anyway. Not my best, but it's bringing the story along to the main plot. Review please? Tell me what you think~_


	8. Cute Like A Child

The Chinese man stared at his sister in awe. He didn't know what to believe anymore.  
"No, no… that's not true, aru! Kiku wouldn't do that!"

Taiwan looked at her shocked brother, feeling bad for having to drop the news on him so suddenly. Honestly, she didn't know who to side with, that's why it had taken her so long to talk to her older brother about it.

"I-I'm sorry.. A-Aniki-San…" She hung her head.  
"I meant to tell you sooner, it's just.. Kiku.. he's my brother too.."

Yao forgot about his own problem for a moment, his brotherly instinct turning on, because of his rattled younger sister.

"Hey, Mei.. it's fine.. shh.." He hugged his little sister, tightly.

But he couldn't understand.  
He'd just been informed that his youngest brother, Kiku, was going against him.  
And for what..?  
Resources..?  
Money..?

He thought that he'd taught his siblings to have better values than that!  
Japan had always been so calm, so caring, so lost in his own world.

Now that Wang Yao thought about it..  
He never knew what went on inside Kiku's head.  
He finally let go of his sister.

"Aniki..?" She questioned.

"Hm?" The older nation looked down at his little sister.

"I-I can't get involved…not anymore. I-I love both of you.." She informed.

"I wouldn't try to push you into helping me with something serious like this, Mei. But I'm glad you told me about it, aru." China informed.

"B-but.. I did do _one_ thing, Aniki.." She told him.

"I-I got you an ally.. to start you off."

"You did, aru…?"

China was confused as to who Taiwan would have been able to snatch away to side with him.

"Hai." She nodded.

"I met up with him earlier."  
She grabbed her older brother's hand, and dragged him out the back door, and into the garden.

Wang Yao blinked at the tall, strong looking nation who sat in the ground, happily smiling and looking at the sunflowers that bloomed proudly in Yao's flower garden.

What was this..?

That silvery blonde hair… those lilac eyes.

That plastered on smile.

He suddenly stood, when he saw Taiwan and China enter the garden.  
He was even taller looking to Yao now that he was standing on his own two feet. He towered over him, Yao had to look up to be able to look him in the eye.

Wang Yao would usually feel intimated by someone like him. It always made him feel so small, and helpless.  
But he felt nothing for some reason. He felt _something, _but it wasn't fear. His heart was pounding hard.  
His eyes were wide, he realized.

Why was this man so familiar?  
"Pryvet~" The taller nation lifted a hand, waving softly, as his surprisingly childish voice left his mouth.

"You are Wang Yao, da..? I am Ivan~"

That accent..

It all hit Yao, everything.  
The small child he'd met out in the snow that day. That game of hide and seek, when he'd taken him home, all the times he'd caught him just sitting there looking at the sunflowers, instead of playing with his siblings.  
The day he'd given him that name… Ivan.

"I-Ivan, aru!?" Yao blinked, confused, and he looked at the tall man with the plastered on smile.  
This was the same little child from so many years ago?

"Da~ you are remembering me?" He smiled.  
"I am being glad for that, then."

Taiwan slipped back inside, leaving the two newly made allies, alone.

"You are really tall, aru.." Yao informed crossing his arms.

"Da~ and you are still being short, like when we met."

Yao missed the smaller version of the young nation.

"I am not that short, aru!" He informed the taller nation.

The Russian laughed a soft, innocent sounding laugh.  
"Nyet~ You're very tiny. Like little glass doll."

Yao was suddenly indignant.  
The taller, grinning nation, knelt down a little to see him eye-to-eye, and he poked him in the nose, lightly.

Wang Yao glared a little, and smacked Ivan's hand away.

He expected the younger nation to react in anger. But he just chuckled a little, and he ruffled Yao's hair.

"W-what are you laughing at!?" Yao demanded, his face was obviously red.  
"I am not being able to help it, little one~ you are cute, like a child."

Yao blinked.  
He was used to being the older brother figure.  
He was never considered "cute" before.

Yao hung his head, trying to hide the blush on his face.  
This younger nation.. Ivan. He had changed so much. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Why are you in the first place, Ivan..?" Yao demanded.  
He didn't realize how mean that had sounded before it left his mouth.

Instead of being hurt, the Russian looked at him with the same plastered on smile as before.

"I am here because I heard that you are finding yourself in some trouble, is that not true?"

It slowly sunk in.  
His brother was really planning on hurting him..  
It was almost too much for Yao to take. His own little brother…

"Yeah.. I guess I am, aru."

**A/N: Okay~ you guise avoided giving me any reviews for the last chapter.  
I know you're there so don't let me keep going through without reviews. Because I missed so many days updating, take this new update already. Please review me, and let me know what you like about the story so far, or whatever other thoughts you are.  
Or I will let my Chibi!Russia plushie come over to your house and hit you with his pipe. Kolkolkol~ BI  
Anyways, thanks for reading. **


	9. Allies

Wang Yao was still having a hard time taking it all in.  
He wasn't sure when his brother was planning on attacking, all Taiwan had said was that it could take a few more days, or a year. She didn't know, but it could be anytime within that.

That day, it had been rainy outside, so Yao sat at his kitchen table sipping a cup of tea, and reading yet another pointless fictional book.

Ivan was going to arrive at any moment for a meeting to talk about strengths and weaknesses and what not, though, Yao was still reluctant.  
He didn't want to accept help from a nation that he had once known as a child.  
It made him feel odd, that this same nation that had once been just another child begging for his attention was now a bigger nation than him.

A week had passed since he first saw him again after so many years.  
Taiwan had somehow managed to remember him. And had brought him back just to assist him.

The sound of the door opening and closing didn't startle Yao, he un-phased, continued to look at the pages of his book.  
"I'm in the kitchen, aru." He called softly, assuming that the sound had been Ivan entering his house.  
He'd left the door unlocked for that reason, and also for the sake of any of his siblings who may or may not randomly show up.

Though he'd stopped having to be a brotherly figure many years ago, it didn't mean he'd stopped _wanting _ to be one.

"It isn't rike this wirr be easy…" Came a familiar voice from across the room.  
The voice startled Yao, he very quickly dropped his book, and his eyes jolted up to where he could see his younger brother standing there.

"I-I thought you were someone else, aru…" He gasped.

There he was.. Kiku.  
His brother who was supposedly turning against him.

"W-what do you want from me..?" Wang Yao asked.  
His voice was slightly angry, slightly hurt. He couldn't help it. After all the years he spent dedicating to Kiku.  
He was just going to turn out like _this? _Fighting against his own brother? And for what?

"Resources.." He answered softly.  
"I'm sorry…but I need resources just as much as you do.."

"I-I know that I can't just hand my resources over to you, Kiku, the way my homeland is now.. I worked at it, and earned it, to make it the way it is today! You have to do the same! You can't just always have everything handed to you, aru!" China yelled back, even though Japan had spoken in a soft voice.

"I'm not rike you, my land is not as functional as yours.. and if you refuse to help me, I have no choice.."

"I-I'll… I-I'll help you Kiku.. but with advise.. I can't just hand everything to you, though… can't you understand that, aru..? I-I'll.. always help you… you're my brother.."

Kiku stared at Yao as if what he said was absurd.

"I'm sorry.. you're reaving me no choice…I'm going to have to follow through rif my attack.." He informed.  
"B-but..! I-I… K-Kiku… after everything I did for you, aru! You're just going to turn on me!?"

Kiku was silent for a moment.  
"I appreciate how you raised me. But I can't always be your quiet little respectful brother.. if I can't get what I need from you, I'm going to take it."

"This is not how I raised you, Kiku! I thought you were better!" Yao shouted.  
He felt a knot in his throat. He couldn't just _hand _ his lands resources over to his brother! He needed them, he wasn't being selfish! He had to think of his people!

"You did raise me better.. but it doesn't change the fact that I need your resources. Are you going to help me..?"

He wanted to help Japan.. he truly did.  
But at the same time, he couldn't take things away from his own people. He'd taught Kiku to fend for himself.  
But he didn't mean it this way.

"No.." China answered.

He and his brother stared at each other dead in the eye for quite a bit of time, and then suddenly without any warning, Kiku's fist flew towards him, and made contact with his face.

Shocked and hurt to be hit by his own little brother, Yao stumbled back, wincing, and falling to the ground out of sheer surprise.

He could feel tears forming in his eyes.  
In wasn't because of the pain. He'd withstood much worse.  
It was just the fact that his own little brother who he'd spent so many years of his life raising, was now standing above him, with eyes completely blank. No emotion.

Did he even care that he was tearing him apart?

Towering over the older Chinese man, he slowly inched his hand towards his brother's face to do who knows what.

Yao closed his eyes, to shocked to do anything about the situation.

Yao covered his face with his hands.

But nothing happened.  
Kiku didn't strike him like he'd expected him to.  
Slowly he opened his eyes to see what was going on.  
To his surprise, Kiku hand had stopped where it was. Ivan had his hand over his wrist holding him still.

Ivan..? When had he stepped into the picture?  
Kiku looked confused.

The Russian's hand was clenched around his wrist, and it didn't look like he would be able to move it away anytime soon.

Yao stared for a moment, not being able to say anything for a second.

"I-Ivan, aru..?" He demanded, softly.

Ivan ignored China's confusion for the time being and looked Japan dead in the eye.

"You will leave this house, da..?" He said it in the form of the question but it sounded like an order.

It's was now Kiku's turn to be completely lost for words.  
The Russian was so much bigger than him, and his voice was so commanding.

"I am not wanting to see you around here hurting Yao again.." He informed.

He gave one of those smiles that was often plastered on his face.

"If I ever catch you hurting Yao again I promise, that I will shoot pain and misery into your life, and you will find yourself being sorry."

Forcefully, he pushed Kiku towards the door.  
"Have nice day, da?" He grinned at him.

Without a word, Kiku looked at his brother who was still on the floor, and then with that he disappeared through the door.

Russia instantly knelt down to Yao's size and looked at him, that smile that was on his face now fading.

"Are you hurt, Little One?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

That annoyed Yao slightly.  
He hated feeling little.  
But it was not important anymore.  
He moved his hands completely away from his face, revealing the already forming bruise that was left on his cheek from where his brother had hit him.

Ivan looked at the bruise with an almost confused face.

He stared for a moment before very slowly inching a finger towards his face. He touched Yao's cheek ever so softly as if he thought Yao was made of paper, or glass. Afraid to crush him.

"I am sorry I was not here earlier.."

Yao, now feeling slightly better and more in control of his emotions crossed his arms, and looked indignant like he usual was towards Ivan.

"Who cares, aru? We're hardly allies. It's not like we've been allies forever or anything."  
"It's not your job to be here."

"Nyet, it is my job. We are allies, whether it's been for few days, or months or years, da? It is not mattering how long, it only matters that we're allies."

He said all that so straight forward, like he didn't even have to pause to think about it.  
He was certain.

"Allies are supposed to protect each other, no matter what. That is being correct?"

Yao blinked, looking at the tall Russian in disbelief.  
He slowly nodded.  
"Yes."

Russia smiled one of his usual smiles, and he took Yao's hand gently, and kissed it.

"I signed up to be your ally, and I am not taking this lightly."

Looking him right in the eye once again, with that same smile, he said the most straight forward, overly complicated thing that he'd said yet.

"I will protect you no matter what. Whether you are asking for it or not."

**A/N: Hai guise~ Sorry for taking so long for the update. ;w;  
But yeah! Here I am! Please review? I'm trying the best I can. Thanks for all the follows, views, and favorites. I love you all. And thank you for reading. Give me your opinions on this chapter, or any part of the story in general, whether you want to criticize, or anything.  
Thanks! **


	10. Bliding White

"It's not such a big deal, aru." The Chinese nation informed his nervous younger sister.  
Taiwan was piling him with jackets, his coat, and mittens. Not to mention a layer of different colored scarves.

Mei closed her eyes, nervously tying the scarves to her older brother so that they wouldn't come off once he stepped outside.  
"Promise you won't take these things off once I can't see you anymore?" She questioned her nervous tone, overly obvious.  
Though China hadn't planned on it, he could see why his sister was worrying about it.  
The bundle he now had on was a little much.

"I promise, Mei. Stop worrying, aru! It's stupid." He sighed, getting a little impatient with his timid younger sister.

"..O..okay." She sighed a little bowing her head quickly.

He ruffled her hair a little and she closed her eyes again, blushing shyly, slightly.  
She was quite cute, and at the moment Yao was thankful he had such a sweet little sister, though she was a little over the top at times like this.

"I..I just don't want you to get cold, aniki…" She informed, hanging her head to avoid eye contact.

Yao kissed his sister lightly on the top of the head.  
He almost missed her being a little kid.  
The sweet little girl who brought him sunflowers, and giggled all the time.  
Ever since the whole thing with Kiku started she'd become tense, constantly nervous, and it made Yao feel bad as if the whole thing was his fault.

He just wanted all his siblings to be happy.  
That included Kiku.  
He wished he could just give him what he wanted so that this whole thing could end, but just as China had to look out for his siblings, he had to look after his people as well, and that kept him from fulfilling his younger brother's wishes.

Im Yong Soo entered the room, and Yao looked at him, silently asking him to help him with their sister, who was still fussing over his scarves, and then adding a hat.

"Okay, Mei…" Wang Yao sighed.  
"Go to Im Yong Soo, now.." He sighed, patting the small Asian nation on the head.  
She turned reluctantly.

China turned to his brother.  
He wasn't sure as to whether Kiku was going to involve the rest of his siblings.  
He couldn't be all that heartless, could he?

He had to warn Im Yong Soo, though. Just in case.  
He and Mei were staying back at his house to hold down the fort, while China went to meet up with Russia.

"Be careful, aru." Wang Yao informed his younger brother.  
"And protect your sister if anything should happen."

South Korea nodded, smiling slightly, and placing a hand on Mei's head.  
"Don't worry, Aniki!" He laughed.  
"Protecting things originated in South Korea! So it's my specialty, da ze!"

Wang Yao chuckled slightly at this and waved to his two siblings going for the door.

Yao only planned to be gone for the day, but he needed them to be prepared in case Kiku held him back, or he got caught in the snow.  
He was honestly praying that everything would go smoothly and he wouldn't have to worry about his two siblings.

But what about Vietnam? Or Hong Kong?  
Would they be okay?

Kiku had been conveniently uninformative as to whether he was going to involve his other siblings in this stupid attack of his.  
He gave a final wave to his siblings, before taking off.  
All he could do was pray, right?

…

The ride to Ivan's homeland, hadn't been overly long.  
He was thankful that they didn't leave very far apart, or else they would have to wait longer periods of time for their meetings.

He stepped into the snow, suddenly glad his sister had bundled him up as much as she had.  
The wind struck him like a knife and forced him to shiver.

Ivan hadn't given him completely clear directions to his house, so he hoped he wouldn't be stuck out in this cold for too long.

Though it wasn't looking too promising.  
He walked for nearly 20 minutes and saw nothing but the white.  
White.  
Everything was a blinding shade of white, it was only the Chinese man's colorful clothing that convinced him every so often that he hadn't been blinded by the color white.

The wind began to blow so hard that the freezing cold snow started flying towards him, stinging his eyes slightly.

He couldn't help but think of the first time he'd met Ivan.  
The small Russian boy who'd just insisted on a game of hide and seek.  
It had been a bad decision, but it was a game he was glad he had played anyway.

Though, Yao and Ivan hadn't been allowed to be close in relation, Wang Yao couldn't ever forget the time he'd spent with that small Russian child.

Over the time, he valued him nearly as much as his siblings.  
He'd wanted him to live back in his homeland with him, but before he'd gotten a chance to convince him to stay, he was just… gone…

Yao's train of thought was interrupted when he hit something, and then toppled down into the freezing snow.

He'd had his eyes downcast, so that the wind wouldn't be able to blow snow into his eyes, and of course he managed to run into something.

"Oh~ Sunflower." That familiar accent, relieved Yao.  
"I am hoping I did not startle you too much."

He kneeled down where Wang Yao had fallen, and even through the snow, blowing around the two of them, China managed to see that plastered on smile that the Russian almost always had on.

Those lilac colored eyes hadn't changed a bit. They even still had that childish tint to them.  
Some things never changed…  
But that smile, complimented by those childish eyes… it almost scared Yao for some reason.  
Why was it scary to him?

"A-Aiyah, Ivan…" Yao coughed because of the cold.

"Y..you could have managed to give me better directions, aru.."

Ivan put on a childish pout that reminded him a lot of his siblings.

"I will do better next time for Sunflower, da?" He said, in a sweet tone.

"Yeah…I'd like that, aru."

Ivan extended his strong hand to Yao's smaller one, and Yao slowly took it. The Russian slowly pulled Yao to his feet, gently, as if he was afraid to break him.  
The gentleness always caught Wang Yao off guard, considering the fact that he'd seen how rough he could be, like last week when he'd caught Kiku in the middle of hurting him.  
The flashes of Ivan forcefully shoving him came to mind again, and for some reason it made him think. A lot.  
Why was Ivan so gentle with him?

Was it because they were allies..?  
Well.  
Obviously.  
But someone like Ivan.. making an effort to be gentle.  
He'd never been gentle, even as a child.

He'd been rough with animals.  
Though he'd never admit it if he asked him about it, Yao had witnessed the small child pulling the wings off of butterflies.

He'd tried to speak to a baby bird in nest.  
He'd told it that it didn't need to be afraid of him, and when it recoiled and cowered in fear, Ivan had gotten angry with it, and threw twigs and rocks at it, removing it from the nest.

It confused Yao everytime he'd seen Ivan act up like that, because when he spoke to him, he'd been so sweet, so obedient, he clung to his hand, when stranger's came around, as if he was afraid of _them _when it was always coaxing animal's and such not to be afraid of _him. _  
It made no sense.

He'd always looked at the animal's with this same childish smile, or attitude, the same one he was using on Yao currently.  
If Yao suddenly decided to be afraid of Ivan… would he hurt him?

Yao, now officially over thinking things, let his mind drift back to the one time he'd caught the young Russian outside with the dead river fox.  
It's entrails spread out of the ground It's blood soaking the grass.

Ivan had screamed, denied that he'd done anything to it.

And though Yao told him that he believed him.  
He somehow didn't.

He still didn't.  
That river fox had probably tried to run away. No doubt it had.  
Which led him back to that same question again.  
If _he _tried to run away, would Ivan grab him?  
Slam _him _ to the ground, and make him bleed out like he had with that animal so many years ago?

"Sunflower, you are wanting tea, da? It was feeling very cold out there." He called from the kitchen.

"Y…yes, aru!" Yao called after him, being yanked from his train of thought yet again.

He waited a moment, and then Ivan came back setting Yao's beverage at the table, and taking a seat beside him.  
He smiled his childish smile at the smaller nation, and took a sip of his own drink.

Yao decided he didn't need to worry about what might happen to him if he ran away.  
Because he saw what those small animal's had not been able to see.  
Ivan had nothing scary about him, whatsoever.  
While, he was disturbed, there was just something about him that needed to be fixed.

And Yao had decided that as long as Ivan was his ally, he was going to be the one to fix it.

**A/N: Okay~!  
I'm always sorry for the long time it always takes to update. eue  
It's stupid because my only excuse for it is "I'm lazy" I'm not gonna say writers block, because that, to me is just another indirect way of telling people that I'm lazy, and I'm not one for beating around the bush. Anyway~ reviews would be appreciated, and thank you for all the favorites and follows! They mean a lot! I'll see you guys later when I update soon. If you have any questions, review, or just message me. Until then~**


	11. Completely Red

Yao could feel his heart pounding.  
It was pounding so hard, he swore he could hear it. It felt as if it was about to break right out of his chest.

He felt sweat, dripping down his forehead, and even though he was surrounded in a never ending path of white freezing snow, his body still felt hot.

He gritted his teeth in pain, and slowly he snow all the snow around him turning red, soaking up all it's white color, easily disappearing.

The sweat that he'd previously felt..

Well… it wasn't sweat, exactly.  
He swept his hand over his forehead quickly. It matched the red color...that was soaking up in the snow...

He suddenly felt another shot of pain, and blood started soaking through his clothing.  
The snow around him started turning more and more red.  
"N..no! Stop it, aru! S..stop.." The small helpless nation cried out, not even sure of who or what he was telling to stop.  
He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

He blinked several times. He could see it now… a figure, standing in the snow.. watching.  
"I-Ivan..?" He muttered, quietly, hoping it was Ivan, praying that it was.. he would save him, right? Save him from all this…  
The figure approached, and before Yao could even manage to blink again, the figure's hand swung, and smacked him across the face, making his cheek sting, and on top of that, causing more blood to slide down his face.

He felt his eyes slowly filling with tears, and he felt his heartbeat slowing, as more blood dripped down, turning the snow _even _more red.  
He looked up and he saw his little brother, staring down at him, his face blank, as usual.

"K-Kiku…?" He asked, under his breath.  
"I-I'm sorry, aru.. d-don't leave me like this.."

His brother stared at him for another moment, then slowly turned, and began walking, leaving his foot prints behind, and nothing else.  
He didn't even utter a word to him.  
He didn't show any sign of regret.

"K-Kiku!?"  
No answer.

Yao choked on a sob.  
"P-Please don't-! C..come.. back… please…?"  
No response. His brother disappeared again, and with one more blink, every single speck of snow around him turned completely red.

…

Yao sprawled upwards, and he found himself waking in a cold sweat, screaming.  
Choking on sobs.  
Why had that whole thing… seemed so real to him?

The red flashes spun around in his head.  
His brother's emotionless expression.  
He tried to keep himself from breaking down completely, but eventually one of those sobs broke up, ringing out in the room slightly.

He covered his face, and he trembled.  
Just sitting there… in the darkness.. not willing to move. Afraid that he'd stand, and find he was still locked away in one of his nightmares.

How could… Kiku do this to him?  
Just turn around and leave him like this? He had trusted him! He'd done everything for him.. and now even in his dreams… he was forsaking him.  
Yao choked on yet another sob, not being able to stop himself. Hot tears ran down his cheeks, and he kept his face covered with his hands.

Suddenly, something happened that stunned the small Chinese nation, he found himself, wrapped in an embrace.  
It was random, so it had surprised him.

Yao's eyes widened, almost scared.  
What was happening..? Who was…?  
"Sunflower.. what is being the matter..?"

That voice.  
Ivan..?

Yao blinked, managing to get a good look around the room.  
In the dark, he could tell it wasn't his house. And then he slowly remembered not managing to get home, after his meeting with the Russian.

His eyes darted around the room, and he slowly figured that he was in Ivan's living room, he'd been sleeping on the couch..  
He'd… fallen asleep?

He found himself not even caring at the moment.  
Tears were still sliding down his face, and he didn't even care if he looked like a fool, or weakling in front of his ally.

He let the taller nation hug him, his strong arms, almost comforting to him.  
His head was laying up against his chest, and he closed his eyes, letting the last bit of tears slide down his face.

Ivan hesitantly pulled Yao onto his lap, still keeping his arms around him, trying to comfort the older nation.  
It was just all too much for Yao.  
It was all finally dawning on him.  
His own brother.. had double crossed him.  
This was it… after all they'd been through together, huh?

"S-sorry.." He finally managed to utter a word to the younger nation, that was still continuing to comfort him.

"Nyet.." The taller nation replied, instantly.  
"Do not be worrying about it, Little One.."

Usually Ivan's pet names annoyed China, but this whole situation.. it almost made him not care about it.  
After taking a few breaths, making sure he wasn't going to tear up again, China tried to speak to the younger nation again.

"H-how did I…?" He trailed off.

"You fell asleep.." He informed.  
"Your trip through the snow must have done more of a number on you than you believed, da?" He giggled, childishly.

"I am not minding so much, though.. you do not have to worry about it."

His tone slowly got more serious, as he abandoned his usual childish tone.

"What's wrong, Yao..?"

The Chinese nation went silent, breaking into a shaky sigh.  
"I..it was… just a dream… a nightmare…"  
He admitted.  
He hated seeming childish in front of Ivan. This was stupid, wasn't it?  
Waking up in the middle of the night, sobbing..?  
Forcing another nation to comfort him.

It was weird.  
Yao had always been the one to comfort his siblings, no one had ever comforted _him_.. it was almost embarrassing.

Ivan shook his head, concerned.

"It was about your brother, da?"

"H-how did you—"

"You called his name earlier." He shrugged.

Yao went silent again, trying to keep himself from tearing up about it again.

"I…I didn't want this to happen… h-he's my little brother…" His voice trembled slightly, and Ivan wrapped his arms around the smaller nation again.

"Shhh… it will be okay, Sunflower~ I'm here.." He soothed, using a voice that you would use on an injured child, trying to coax them.

"Don't be forgetting, Yao, I promised to protect you.. I was meaning it. You do not have to be afraid, anymore."

**A/N: Hai guise~! I'm back with yet another update! I'm trying to be better at updating, instead of like.. stalling all the time! So, i managed to stop being lazy, and write out another chapter. Anyway... this was supposed to show Yao's vulnerable side. Show that, like... even though the whole time, Yao's train of thought was about protecting his siblings, or accepting Ivan, and things like this...but this showed that Yao gets vunerable too. He can't always be the comforter. Anyways~ Yeah! I hope this was interesting enough for you guise. Review, please? I leik feedback.. eue Thanks for the follows, and such~ until next time, guise! **


	12. Gomenasai

Mei checked up on the Chinese nation regularly, in fear that something would happen to him.  
Im Yong Soo, came around every once in awhile, and there was the occasional Vietnam.  
They all cared for China.

But they also couldn't hate Japan.  
Their family had been a very close family through-out the years, and it was strange for something like this to happen.

The dreams continually ate up at Yao, the whole thing was scary to him most of all.  
He didn't know how to deal with the whole thing, Kiku had always been such a sweet child.  
He could still remember when he'd call him "aniki" in his little shy voice, and how he'd sometimes climb on his lap and fall asleep while he was reading in the garden.

Yao couldn't stand the fact that now that same nation… the one who would constantly cling to him, too shy to face the world alone.. was now attacking him.

The small Chinese man that at this point was sitting at his kitchen counter, filing papers, and trying hard to keep his mind off his little brother, suddenly dropped his pen.

His eyes followed it down through the fall, watching it hit the floor, with a sound of it clashing with the wooden floor boards.

His eyes locked onto it, and he shrugged, then turning to the small panda plushie he'd set on the chair beside him.

_"A-Aniki! Wirr you ret me pway with your panda? Pwease?" _

Those voice of his younger brother from so many years ago, suddenly hit his ears, and he remembered.  
It had been the same plushie that he'd permitted Kiku to play with in the garden as a child.

Yao gently picked it up off the chair and sniffed it.  
Hoping it would smell like Japan, but it didn't. It'd been far too long since Kiku had asked to play with his stuffed panda.

Far too long since they'd even had a close relationship.

"I…can't do this, aru.." He mumbled to himself, his face still buried in the plushie's fabric.

Tears started to well up in his eyes.  
Since when had he become so weak?

China stood, setting the toy down on the chair again, and he rushed out the back door, where his garden was.

He'd still never gotten over it.  
The garden was where he had spent the majority of his time raising his siblings.

He remembered Im Yong Soo, Mei, and the others running through the garden, giggling.  
It all seemed like it had been yesterday, but time had gone way too fast for Yao's liking.

He wanted his siblings to be there every single day.  
He wanted it, more than anything.

His thoughts swirled through his head, uncontrollably, and his already existing tears started to stream down faster.

The sun began to set, but Yao didn't notice.  
He now had his face in his hands, sitting down in his garden, crying, right then, at that very moment.  
No one was there to see him like that.

He always tried to be strong in front of his siblings. He always wanted to seem as if he was strong, but in truth, ever since they grew, leaving him, and starting lives of their own, he often found himself in tears.

The only one who had seen him in tears recently had been Ivan.

He'd woken from a dream, and Ivan had comforted him.  
Why was he so weak?  
Why did he need his siblings in order to be strong?

It wasn't fair! His siblings, shouldn't define him.  
But maybe.. they did.

Maybe Yao was just an old nation, who needed his siblings to survive.  
He needed to rely completely on his siblings. And when they left, he found himself keeled over, weakly.

Without them he was absolutely, nothing, right?  
Maybe he would just _let _Japan take him after all.  
It would make him happy, wouldn't it?

No! No!  
Why in the world was he thinking those things?  
While he _did _enjoy the visits from them, and keeping in contact with them, they didn't _define _him!

…He was… the oldest nation.  
The wisest.  
And maybe being around so many years.. that was his downfall.  
He had to watch so many nations rise, fall, die, grow up, leave him…  
It was terrifying.

Yao Choked on another sob.  
He didn't want to do this!  
He couldn't fight someone who had once looked up to him, needed him.  
He couldn't hurt his brother.

"Nii-San..?"

China didn't answer, he didn't even hear the voice.

"Nii-San.."  
No answer.

Suddenly, Yao found arms thrown around him, in an embrace from behind.

He gasped, a shaky breaths coming from his mouth.

Yao's eyes widened.

"Prease stop…" The voice said, softly.

What was this..? Kiku… why was he…?

"K-Kiku..?" Yao's small voice asked.

"W-why are you… h-here, aru…?"  
Japan slowly let go of him.  
He sat down on in the grass beside him, but didn't answer the question.

It was obvious why Japan had come here.  
Pulling his knees up to his chest, Kiku stared up at the moon that was now in the sky.  
Slowly pulling himself together Yao looked up as well.  
It reminded him of the nights he'd spent silently gazing at the moon with Kiku.

Not a word was spoken between them for a long time.

"I-I know why you came here, aru.." China said, after a good five minutes.

Japan shrugged.  
No answer.

Kiku wouldn't look him in the eye, and he wouldn't answer him either.

Staring the same moon the two of them had always cherished together, Yao muttered words, softly

"Even if we're from different countries…  
Or speak different languages…  
Or write differently…  
I want us to always... gaze at the same moon."

Yao didn't know why he'd said that, but it was the truth.

After a long pause, there was a small, hardly noticeable sound of something getting taken out of it's seethe.  
Japan finally looked up, wearing the same straight face he often wore, but this time it was different.  
On that straight face, were tears, running down his cheeks.

"Gomen, Aniki. Gomenasai.." He said, barely loud enough for Yao to hear.

Then before Yao could reply, he felt a sharp pain.  
Then… nothing but darkness.

**A/N: Okay! It took me a long time to update.  
I felt blocked, but once I just sat down and did it, it came to me. c:  
So I'm sorry that there was hardly a mentioning of Ivan in this chapter, it just didn't seem important to bring up at the time.  
This was a short, and yet kind of eventful chapter.  
The words China says to Kiku at the end about the moon are lyrics from his character theme "Aiyah Yonsenen.  
And in case you don't ALL speak basica Japanese  
Gomen/Gomenasai = I'm sorry, or I'm really sorry.  
Aniki/Nii-San = Big brother. That one was obvious, though.  
Please send a review to me, and let me know if you like where this is going, or whatever you feel about this chapter. Anyway. Until next time.**


	13. The Words He Thought He'd Never Say

The last thing Yao remembered was his brother's tearful apology.  
He hadn't been sure what he was apologizing for, exactly, and before he could ask, he'd felt a sharp pain.

Afterwards, he'd woken up to the screams and cries of his younger sister Mei, the voice of Im Yong Soo trying to calm her down, and Li Xiao Chun shouting at him, ordering him to get her out of the room as Im Yong Soo struggled with his crying younger sister.

Yao remembered nothing other than that.  
The rest was a complete blur.

…

Yao's eyes flashed open, and he instantly threw himself upwards, startled. All his vague memories replaying themselves in his dreams.

…What had happened to him in the first place? Why had Kiku apologized? What was that pain?  
Why had Taiwan been crying? Was had Li Xiao Chun been shouting?

"Aniki!" A fimilar voice cried out, and a gentle hand pressed him back down against the bed. The whole room was a blur for a moment, and his head was hurting him, closing his eyes for another second, he groaned.  
He felt someone pull the blanket back over him.

"A-Aniki?" The soft voice exclaimed.

Yao slowly opened his eyes to face the voice of his younger sister Lien Chung, aka, Vietnam, who had joined the group.

Taking a shaky breath, his vision cleared slightly, and he saw Im Yong Soo Sleeping in a chair by his bed side, and Li Xiao Chun and Mei on the floor curled up together, both of them asleep as well, Mei's face tear stained as she clung to her older brother.

Lien Chung was the only one who was awake at the moment.  
His eyes drifted over to the clock, and it was very late, or very early, it depended on how you looked at it.  
But that wasn't the concern at the moment.

His concern was the worried expression of his sister.

"Aniki… a-are you okay..? Can you speak?" Lien Chung asked, softly.  
It took Yao a moment to register the question, but he nodded.

"Y..yes, I'm fine, aru.." He answered.

What happened next shocked him slightly. Lien Chung's eyes filled with tears, that she quickly blinked away, and they slipped down her cheeks.  
She wrapped her arms gently around Yao's neck, hugging him gently.

It was rare for her to show that type of emotion. It'd been years since Yao had seen her cry.

"W..what happened to you, Aniki? We were all so worried…we thought… you were going to leave us.." He voice trailed off, not wanting to go on any further down that sentence.

Though, it was hard to kill off a country, it was very much possible, though they all tried to avoid the subject altogether.  
And she was asking _him _what happened?  
He wasn't even quite sure herself.

"X-Xiao! Xiao… Aniki… he's awake.." She started gently tapping Hong Kong's shoulder, after he hadn't answered her question.  
Hong Kong groaned and muttered something, before opening his eyes.  
He slowly pried his sister's arms off him, gently lying them at her sides, revealing her troubled, tear-stained face.

He gently kissed Mei's forehead, and stood, coming to Lien Chung's side, looking at Yao.

"Nii-San… whats going on?" He asked, his tone serious, and worried all at the same time.

None of them knew?  
How did they expect Yao to understand anything, his mind was such a blur at the moment.

"I…I…" Yao trailed off.  
"I don't remember, aru."

He got blank looks from his siblings.  
"We found you, Aniki. In the garden, half dead… you were stabbed…" Xiao informed softly, his voice sounded pained.  
None of them had wanted to see their older brother like that.

"Mei found you first, and sent Im Yong Soo out to find me… if she hadn't found you, I believed you'd be..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

Yao blinked, very confused at the moment, his eyes drifted to the floor where his youngest sister was curled up on the floor sleeping, her expression a look of pain, and her face covered in the remains of tears.

"M..Mei, aru?"

He knew how Mei would react to seeing him like that, he remembered her days as a child, when Xiao, or Im Yong Soo hurt themselves playing, she instantly got scared, worried, and sometimes, teared up.  
And those had been mere scrapes or bruises.

He didn't want to think about how she'd be after finding her oldest brother half dead on the ground, bleeding to death.

The image of Mei crying, and Im Yong Soo struggling, trying to drag her out the room, flashed through his mind.

No… he hated the thought of his siblings crying, feeling that kind of emotional pain because of him.

"I'm so sorry, aru.." He muttered.  
Xiao shook his head.  
"Don't be, I just wish I knew how this happened."

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he stopped, a thought crossing his mind, and his eyes widening.

"Kiku… he couldn't have…"

Lien Chung's eyes widened at the thought.  
They exchanged several glances.

It finally snapped in Yao's brain.  
He'd been denying it.  
Trying to forget about it. Trying to avoid the thought, because it was such a painful one. But it was what had happened, no doubt.

"No… It _was _Kiku.." Yao said, closing his eyes, a few tears running down his cheeks.  
"He was the one who.. did this to me, aru."

Why was it so… painful…? Even just to say it out loud? Maybe because those were the words, that Yao thought he'd never have to say.

****

A/N: Herro. This is a really short chapter! Only because I wanted to express his sibling's reactions, before I went onto Ivan's.  
As you can see, Yao is trying to stay in complete denial.  
Not wanting to admit even to himself that Kiku would do something like that to him, and it hurt him to even admit to Hong Kong and Vietnam that Kiku had been the one to do that.  
Now, Vietnam and Hong Kong Already thought that might have been the case, it's Mei and Im Yong Soo who will most likely be surprised by their brother's actions.  
The next chapter will be much longer, and it will come as soon as I can write it.  
Until then~ Bye guys! Thank you for reading. Review, please? That encourages me to keep writing more than anything. 


	14. The Truth

"Big brother~ big brooother~" The taunting voice of Ivan's sister flew throughout the house.  
The sudden appearance of the voice, startled the nation, causing him to tense, and ready himself to hide from her.

"Do not be worrying over it, Ivan~ I'm here with her." Came the calm, slightly annoyed voice of his older sister.  
Ivan was hit with a rush of relief, knowing he wasn't going to be left alone with his younger sister.

"I hope we didn't wake you~" Katyusha called to him from the kitchen.  
Ivan groggily rose from the arm chair that he'd fallen asleep in, looking back and forth to make sure Natalia was not blocking his pathway.

"Nyet… it's fine." He called back to her, half cheerful, half still tired.

He heard Katyusha mutter something to their younger sister, and then she entered the living room where Ivan was.

She frown a bit when she finally registered how dark it was in Ivan's house.  
She shook her head, opening the curtains, going around the house fixing the dark house.

"You shouldn't be keeping it so dark in here, Ivan. It's not very good for your eyes." She said, slightly sounding as if she was scolding.

Ivan admired his older sister, she still acted as a mother so many years after he and Natalia's childhood days were over.

She tilted her head innocently, and started to brush Ivan's overgrown bangs out of his eyes.  
He grunted in reply slightly startled, and grabbed her hand gently, slowly pushing it back down to her side where it belonged.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." He shrugged, smiling slightly just to reassure the worried girl before him, that was his sister.

Ivan sighed a bit, wishing Katyusha wouldn't worry about him so much. What was the point of worrying about someone like him? He pushed aside his negative thoughts, remembering that he was supposed to meet Yao that day.

He and the older Chinese nation had discussed setting a date to talk over tea of their plans to get better defense for his land.

At the moment, he was wide open.  
The younger nation had pressed him to set a closer date to talk about defense, but Yao had insisted that Japan wouldn't attack anytime soon.

Ivan had been unsure of the idea of waiting, but respected China's wishes.  
Though, he wished he had more excuses to visit the smaller man.  
He was interesting, and didn't cower away from him, as other nations and people did.

What intrigued him Russia further was the fact that Yao was beautiful, and fragile looking, like a porcelain doll, but he somehow knew that there was more to him than that.  
Though, the smaller man tended to seem emotionally fragile in his situation, that was to be expected.

But Ivan had flashes of the strong beautiful older nation who had cared for him as a child.  
Back in those days, Yao would smile softly at Ivan… but ever since their new alliance had been formed, a smaller from the older nation seemed like a rare thing, indeed.

It worried Ivan, made him feel like Yao had maybe… changed… he wanted to prevent him from changing further.  
And above all, he would be sure to make sure the older nation smiled at him again.

He counted on that.

…

"He's been _what?" _Ivan demanded, surprised, as he looked into the eyes of a younger nation that resembled Yao slightly.

The nation known as Vietnam, who had introduced herself as "Lien Chung" shook her head.

"I am sorry we didn't get word to you sooner, Yao cannot have a meeting with you today, he is…very sick.." She informed the taller nation.

Ivan went silent for a moment.  
Yao was sick? How? Why?

"You are Ivan, right?" Lien Chung broke the silence after a moment, and caught Ivan's attention.  
The tall nation nodded.  
"Da." He answered, still in a bit of a daze, trying to figure out what was wrong with his friend.

"Ah, I have heard of you. Not just from my brother." She told him.

"Uh.. Yao." She answered quickly, her cheeks flushing slightly red from embarrassment when she realized she hadn't informed Ivan that Yao was her older brother, before referring to him as so.

"Yao is my brother, he raised me when I was younger." She explained fully.

"Oh? It's nice to meet you, I suppose." Ivan smiled slightly, nodding at the shorter Asian nation.  
The quiet, seemingly collected younger nation went off in a daze once more.

"I'm sorry…" Ivan broke her away from the silence once more.

"I was just wondering… I will be able to get in contact with Yao soon, da?"  
Lien Chun blinked.  
"Well, when Aniki _recovers _you can see him," She informed.

Ivan narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

"Why didn't he get in contact with me to tell he was sick?" Ivan asked.

Lien Chun's eyes went downward, as she stared at her shoes, debating whether or not it would be right to tell Ivan the situation.

"Well…" She said, softly.  
"Since you're Aniki's ally, I suppose I have to tell you the truth..."

**A/N: I feel so bad, guise... I took so long to update... I blame my play... hormones, and a lot of other things. My life was sort of like, crazy for awhile, there, guise, so I want to say sorry for not updating. I promise, I'm not quitting this story, if you had lost all hope in me or something.  
I just have things going on in my real life, thats all. But it's over now, so I'll give regular updates again. As well as to my other story. "All Those Broken Memories" if you're a follower of that. So please accept this short update. More soon, guise. Until then...**


	15. I'll Rescue You

Wang Yao opened his eyes slowly.  
He almost felt reluctant.  
He was still so tired, it was hard to shake this feeling, and yet… it was so hard to stay awake.  
He wondered how long it would be before his sister's would let him leave the crowded room.

He had planning to do, now that it was confirmed in his mind that his brother was serious.  
He almost could believe it.

This was _Kiku _he was talking about!  
…Did he really have to have a mental debate with himself every single time he opened his eyes?  
He sighed, letting his eyes slowly close again.  
He tried to forget.

He wished he could forget.  
He wished that he could open his eyes, and see all his little siblings, back to the way they were as kids.  
Sweet, innocent…

He wanted them back.  
He didn't want to deal with this, it was just too much.

"Aiyah…" He sighed, under his breath.

"Yao…?" A familiar voice uttered his name.  
Yao had to force himself to open his eyes again, and he noticed someone who he hadn't noticed there a minute ago. Someone was by his bedside.

"Ivan..?" He asked, slightly surprised.  
"W-what are you doing here, aru?"  
He and Ivan locked eyes for a moment, until Yao noticed tears were starting to fill those child-like violet eyes.

Since when did Ivan act like this..?  
"I-Ivan..?" Yao was slightly alarmed now.  
He didn't like to see the Russian man upset, it suddenly made him recall his childhood.

He remembered that small Russian boy he'd rescued from the cold.  
He remembered that fragile, sweet, child…

At this moment, Ivan looked no different than he had before. His eyes, that were still full of child-like innocence, filled with tears, that he tried to blink away.

He may have grown… he may have been through just as much as other nations, but it didn't change, that Ivan was almost the same as he was before.

Yao tilted his head, forgetting his tiredness, and now paying more attention to the taller nation, who seemed to be really upset over this.  
He didn't seem to even trust himself to speak.

"Ivan, I'm okay, aru…" He tried to inform him, in a soft soothing tone.

"No, you're not, dammit!" He suddenly snapped.  
Yao stared, wide eyed.  
He hadn't expected that from him.

"You're not okay… you're not okay… y-you're… not okay, all right..? Don't… lie…" The Russian seemed to be muttering to himself more than he was talking to Yao at this point, and that's what worried Yao.

Yao didn't know what to say.  
"I promised myself that I would protecting you, you know..?" He finally uttered, not looking at him, he was obviously embarrassed at the tears that streamed down his face.

"I was never… wanting to see you hurting like… that...like _this..._ I should have been defending you…"

"Ivan, come here, aru." Yao said, softly.  
Ivan didn't listen .

"Ivan, _come here." _The older nation scolded.  
Ivan reluctantly got closer to the Chinese nation's bedside, and Yao grabbed his hand, gently, pulled him down closer, so that they'd be at the right height for each other.

The gentle older nation began running his fingers through the seemingly stunned other's silver-ish colored hair, trying to soothe him.  
"Everything will be okay, aru…I'll heal." He reassured, still trying to comfort the younger nation.

Ivan didn't struggle against Yao's touch.  
This was the first time in awhile, Yao noticed, where the rolls were reversed.  
As of lately, Ivan had been the one comforting _him._  
And one small turn of events, turned the tables completely.

Moments later when things had settled down, Yao kissed Ivan's forehead, as if he had been dealing with one of his siblings, in crisis.  
He ran his fingers through the Russian's hair one more time, then stopped.

Silence.

"Yao?" Ivan finally spoke, looking up at him, at eye-to-eye level with him.  
"Yes, aru?" He asked, tilting his head, smiling softly at him.

"You've saved me in the past, whether you are knowing it, or not. You saved me… from the solitude of my homeland, you saved me from myself, you rescued me.."

The Russian trailed off.  
"Hm? What if it, aru?" China asked.  
He was surprised that was being brought up, it was so long ago.  
He thought that he had been the only one to remember it.

"I am promising you," He said.  
"I will do the same for you. I will be stopping this from happening again… I promise to rescue you, as you did for me."

With those words, the younger nation, smiled one of his sincere, and childish smiles.

...Yao's heart instantly melted.

**A/N: Sadly, though it doesn't seem it, guys... I feel like this fanfiction is coming to an end. It's not that far off.**

Don't be alarmed, not the next chapter, or anything.  
I just feel like, if this were put into acts, this would be the end of act 2, and act 3 would be the closing act.  
I've decided that I'm updating this stories once a week from now on. So I'll see you all, sometime in the next seven days.  
Thank you for reading, and review if you have anything to say about the chapter! Byee!


	16. Tears Mixed With Rain

**A/N: I want to say sorry for being gone for as long as I have been.  
First, I was grounded, then I was just completely blocked. So, I'm just going to let you all know. After this chapter, there are only two chapters left, and final chapter, and then an epilogue.  
I've prolonged this story for far too long, and it's time to end it. Just a fair warning, this chapter mentions blood, and death. Not that you should expect less if you've read my past chapter, I'm not really scared to write in detail. I hope you enjoy, and review if you can, I will be updating at some point this week. Thank you.  
Also, as a side note that I forgot. "Yihan" means "sorry" in Chinese.  
Also, When the words that Kiku says ****_look like this._**** Empashsized, it means he's speaking Japanese. **

'I promise to rescue you, as you did for me.'

He promised, huh?  
He promised…

Yao trembled, that had been months earlier.  
It had been months since his Russian friend had promised him that, and yet here he was.  
The sky was grey, his country was at ruin.  
Yao hated the feeling of hearing his own people screaming, crying.

People had died.  
Innocents had died, men who had dedicated themselves him… they had died.  
It had all gone too fast for him.  
He couldn't comprehend this.

He knew this wasn't all his younger brother's fault, he knew he was being influenced by his boss, and that it was for the good of his own land, but… he couldn't do this.

This thought of so many people dying, just made the small Chinese man feel sick to his stomach.  
The thought of his own siblings and allies risking themselves for him, _that _made him sick.

He just felt all around sick.  
All around him, were the bodies of his fallen comrades.  
The bodies of his fallen enemies.

The body of a young Chinese boy caught Yao's eye.  
If anything made him feel sick, it was knowing the men that were undeniably going to die for him.  
Yao knew this boy, he remembered his story clearly.

This young boy, who looked to be no younger than an eighteen year old, at most, took his crippled father's spot in Yao's army.

For his father would have surely died.  
This young boy had a mother, a fiancee, siblings…  
They were all going to have to hear that he was dead.

He looked around at the other bodies, the families of those others, they would all be devastated, and all because of Yao, all because they were fighting for their country.

Yao's eyes turned back to the young boy, his face was cake with blood, as his clothes were stained with it.  
His ember eyes were still open, they looked betrayed, shocked, hurt… this had been the last expression this young boy had made, before he died.

Yao blinked away tears and kneeled down to the boy, running his hand over his eyes, closing them.

the silence of the battlefield was killing him.  
Was he truly the only one left?

"…Yíhàn." Yao muttered, but not just towards the young boy, who he was knelt over by, but to everyone, including the Japanese soldiers.  
This was all his fault.  
Every bit of it was his fault.  
The Russian's…  
They had been fighting for him, so many had fallen, and all for his cause.

He looked up at the sky, as it began to rain.  
Everything was seemingly crying, even the spirits of the sky.

They sent their tears for the fallen.

"…Yíhàn." Yao muttered again.  
No matter how many times he muttered his apology to everyone who had died for him, he knew that it might be have all been for nothing.

Even at this point, he wasn't sure who had won.  
He felt so weak, so tired… and he knew that if he slept, his brother would find him, and end him, so that he would never wake up.

After all this, was Kiku going to win?  
After all the times he could have given into Kiku's demands… would that have been better?

Where was Ivan?  
He had promised to rescue him.  
Was it all a lie?

A sudden thought slapped Yao across the face.  
Maybe Ivan had somehow fallen as well?

All those memories of that small innocent Russian boy he'd met flashed back into focus, the last few months they'd spent together, getting to know each other.

Everything about Ivan suddenly flashed before Yao's eyes.  
The thought that the man that he'd secretly become so attached to… might be dead.. crushed him.

Maybe Yao deserved this pain, after all the pain he'd cause to his people?  
Maybe he…deserved this…

Yao knew it would be selfish to cry.  
He knew it would be completely and utterly selfish, but he felt his throat closing up.  
He felt the tears brimming his eyes, he felt the sobs, threatening to choke him up.

"Why…" He choked.  
"Why…!?"

Tears started to run freely, as the rain started to pour harder.  
"Is this what you wanted, Kiku? Is this what you truly wanted?"

Giving up, he curled up on the ground, letting the freezing rain soak him.

Letting his tears mix with the rain.

Was this truly what Kiku had wanted? To see his older brother completely broken?  
To see the land, and all the work that his people had done, be set afire?

Yao hugged himself, letting weak sobs take him over.

He let his tired eyes close, as tears continued to stream down.

He curled up.

_"No, this wasn't what I wanted, brother. But it's what needed to happen."  
_The voice of Yao's brother hit his eardrums.

He spoke his native language, and the old nation understood every word of it, perfectly.

Yao's bloodshot eyes opened once more.  
"Is ending me what you really want, Kiku? Will that really fulfill your wishes?"

"_I…it doesn't have to be that way…" _Kiku answered, after a silence.  
_"You can give in…"_

Pause.

"I would rather die, than betray my people even further." Yao growled, sitting up, his tears turned to angry tears.  
After all this, Kiku would honestly suggest his surrender?  
He would rather fight this to the bitter end.

His brother's expression was completely emotionless.  
Though, his face was straight, his eyes blank, a single tear streamed down his cheek, mixing with the rain.

_"If that's how it is…"_ He said.

He lunged towards Yao.

Yao yelped, not having enough time to react.  
He was kicked back, and Kiku's katana was now pointed to his head.  
Having lost his weapon long ago, Yao's only defense was his hand, he tried to hold back the katana with his hands, stop it from touching it, but as Kiku inched it down closer to him, he twisted it, cutting Yao's hands deeper and deeper the farther he went down.

He kicked Yao again, Yao closed his eyes, his face was downwards now, buried into the dirt.  
He felt Kiku's Kanata to his back, balanced there.

He could do nothing, and Kiku began to press it down into his skin.

_"Sayonara, Nii-San." _


	17. Less Likely To Shatter

**A/N: I got all excited, and anxious from the last chapter, because I'm getting so close to the end, and I was ready for you all to see, so I already jotted down this chapter, and I was going to wait to post it, but I just couldn't! This is not that last chapter, the next one is, though.  
This was the ending to the main plotline, but the next chapter will be an epilogue, and the real ending.  
On a side note, Wǒ yuánliàng ni = I forgive you. In Chinese.**  
**And Ostavlyat = "leave" in Russian. Thank you for reading, and please review~**

A single scream.  
A single earsplitting scream, and Ivan's lilac eyes were forced open.  
The Russian breathed deeply.  
Letting his eyes slip to a close, once more, registering the situation.  
He laid there, on the ground, as the cold rain hit him.

It was cold rain, but nothing compared to the weather in his homeland.  
This was almost calming.  
Ivan felt almost tempted to just lay there, and let sleep take him again.

He was tired, so very tired…  
His clothes were soaked with blood, but he wasn't seriously injured.  
It had been a hit to the head that had been his undoing.

The rain started to pour harder.  
His head throbbed.  
He wanted to give into the sleep, that continually called out to him, but then.  
That scream came back to mind.

The battlefield was so quiet, all except for that scream.  
It had undeniably been Yao's voice, and it was a scream of complete and utter desperation and pain.  
It wasn't often Ivan heard that tone.

It was the very first time in fact, that he'd heard him that way.

What was he thinking, trying to give into his own selfish needs when Yao was in trouble.

"Yao…" He whispered.  
He rose, grabbing his weapon from the ground, and he charged off into the open, in the direction of his friend's scream.

…

It was nothing like Yao had ever felt.  
It wasn't like other wounds. It was horrible, it stung, he felt as if his back was on fire, like everything he ever was, had been taken and set aflame.

It wasn't easy for a country to die.  
But with this pain…he was starting to think… that it was quite possible, he swore he could feel his life, everything, his memories, slipping away from him, everything was now revolving around this pain.

This pain…  
Was this what death felt like?

When his brother said "Sayonara Nii-San" had he meant it? Feel real? Was this really good-bye?

Suddenly, without warning, the blaring pain… was lightened.  
Kiku's Katana was suddenly yanked from him, and while that hurt, within itself, the pain subsided ever so slightly.

But still... the pain was there.  
He was tired.  
His vision was blurry.

He heard grunts of struggle from his brother, and from another person, but he was too focused on the pain to think it through.

He couldn't sob anymore.  
He couldn't think anymore.

He couldn't move.  
He felt as if he couldn't even breathe.

_Wǒ yuánliàng nǐ, Kiku…_

…

"What reasoning do I have to let you _live?" _Ivan hissed.  
All his anger, and all his fury, was out, full force.  
He couldn't control it.  
The fighting had gone on, Kiku was more run down.  
It hadn't been an easy fight, but not a hard one either.

The babbling Japanese man, stared at him wide-eyed.  
He'd pretty much admitted defeat.  
He'd pretty much announced his surrender.

After all this pain, and suffering he'd caused, for China, Russia, all the nations, and people who had helped to prevent this, this was really how it was going to end?

Ivan shoved him to the ground.

"Ostavlyat'," The Russian spat, taking every bit of strength he had left, to have mercy on this man.  
The man who had attacked China, the one and only person who'd truly been close to him, the only person who never feared him.  
Even at his worst times, Yao never blinked, or looked away in fear.

"Leave, I do not want to be seeing you again, anytime soon."

The wide-eyed Japanese nation nodded, and with this, he left, taking off out into the dark, dark world.

Ivan collapsed.  
Curling up on the ground.  
This was it.  
He'd won, he'd done all in his power to protect something he truly loved, and for once, it was enough.

He turned to his side, and he saw it.  
He saw _him._

The older nation, curled up on the ground.  
A look of pain frozen on his face.  
His body, broken… still…

Suddenly, his sense of victory was sucked right out of him.

"Yao..?" He questioned, he crawled over to the Chinese man's body.

He took his glove off, and stroked the older nation's cheek, with his large hand.

He was still, but still breathing.  
He felt cold, but not cold enough to be dead.  
It was hard for a nation to die.

But, looking at the wound he'd received, Ivan knew that any normal person who had died within very short minutes after the blow.  
It would be a scar.  
Yao would be stuck with the memory of his brother's katana in his back forever.

Ivan stood, and very gently lifted Yao, bridal style, avoiding any contact with his wound, he didn't want to put him in anymore pain.

Nonetheless , Yao groaned, a look of pain still frozen on his face.  
His beautiful eyes slowly fluttered open, as Ivan supported him gently.

"I-Ivan…?" He choked the words out, softly.  
Ivan couldn't help but to let a look of relief cross his face.

"Yao…you're all right…"

"Are you in pain?"

Yao tiredly shook his head, lightly.

"No, not really, a-aru…I'm mostly numb, now." He answered.

"I-is Kiku—"

"He is fine, I can promise you that…but Yao, it's over. He's given up." Ivan answered.

"R-really…?"  
"Da."  
Silence.

The rain still poured down, but Ivan didn't seem to care.  
Gently cradling the smaller man, he walked through it.

"Aiyah, you are treating me like I am made of glass, aru…" Yao informed, not really complaining, just quietly making a statement.

Remembering what Ivan had said, the first time they'd reunited as adults, a small smile crossed the Chinese man's face.

"It is because I am tiny, like little glass doll, right?" He asked, quoting Ivan.

"Da, you are tiny, but you've proven, that you are less likely to shatter than a doll." Ivan said, continuing to walk.

"Why do you say that, aru?" Yao asked curiously.

"You survived all this…" He said, softly.

Yao sighed, using the Russian's shoulder as a pillow, cuddling up to him.

"I did, didn't I?"  
"We both did, aru."

He very gently, tilted Ivan's head down, to make his face him.  
Ivan's lilac eyes met Yao's pure, bright ember ones.

"Thank you, Ivan."

With those soft words, the rain still pouring on the two nations, Yao softly pressed his lips against Ivan's.


	18. Scars

"Do you ever miss it?" Yao asked.

Ivan opened his eyes, and blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the very dim light that barely lit the bedroom.  
His eyes peered down towards the smaller man, who was cuddled up to him, looking up at him with innocent looking ember eyes.

"Miss what?" He yawned, letting his eyes wander over to the window, where he could see the moon shining.

"The whole war thing, aru…all the fighting, and excitement? Aren't you slightly bored now that it's been over for so many months?"

Ivan thought about it for a second.

He wasn't.  
He was perfectly content having Yao curled up in his arms, where he knew he would be safe, not in some battlefield, his entire life uncertain.

"Nyet, I do not miss it." Ivan admitted.

Yao yawned a bit, then buried his face in Ivan's chest softly, wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Me either, aru. Much too stressful, I cannot deal with that." Yao sighed, softly.

Ivan nodded, and wrapped his arms around Yao, pulling him closer, softly holding him to himself.

A thought crossed his mind suddenly after another moment of silence.

He ran his hand down Yao's back, causing the older nation to shiver slightly.

"Aiyah, Ivan." He groaned.

"Does it still hurt?" He asked.

"Hm?" Yao's eyes turned back to Ivan again.

"What your brother did to you, back on the battlefield, it still hurts you, da?" Ivan questioned.

"In a way, aru." Yao admitted.

"Psychically, it's healed, but I am feeling as I might still get pain from it, every time I remember who inflicted it to me."

This made Ivan pulled Yao closer again.

"Don't treat me like a child, aru, I do not need your sympathy." Yao said, his voice sounded slightly pouty, childish, it wasn't often Yao got into a mood like that.

Yao always seemed so wise, and foreign to Ivan, and he liked that about him, it was so strange to him, but he also liked it when Yao seemed like a child.

Yao groaned a bit.

"It hardly makes an impact, I have so many scars from the past, I feel less and less effected every time it happens, aru."

This was a lie, to get Ivan off his back.  
While this may have been true about some of his other scars, the one Kiku dealt to him was different.  
The reasoning for that within itself. Because of who inflicted it.

The image of his own brother brutally stabbing his Katana into his back, was a vision hard to forget.

"You have other scars?" Ivan sat up slightly, and he tilted his head innocently, confused.

"Do not be silly, of course I do, aru. You cannot be forgetting I am old, Ivan. The scars come with age, I'm sure you have a few scars of your own."

Without another word, Ivan began to unbutton the top half of Yao's robe.

"Ivan…" Yao spoke his name softly, but he didn't stop him, or ask him to stop.

Ivan unbuttoned enough to expose Yao's chest and shoulders, where he could see the remains of pink scars, that Yao had mostly covered with layers of makeup.

Ivan licked his finger, and dragged it down the middle of one of the spots, revealing a slash, that was now permanently scarred into Yao's skin.

Ivan felt a pang of anger, knowing that someone had done that to Yao, someone who he wouldn't get the chance to get pay back for it.

There were several others visible, they had faded over time, as they healed, but they were still scars.

Yao saw the look on Ivan's face.  
Ivan's innocent lilac eyes looked hurt, angry.

"Ivan, it's okay…it doesn't hurt me anymore, aru. I cannot even remember how every one of those happened anymore."

That was a lie, but the pain both mental, and physical had officially faded from those wounds.

"It's okay…" Yao repeated softly.  
Ivan looked for another moment, then he leaned over, and gently placed a kiss on the scar he exposed.

"What was that for, aru?" Yao asked, as Ivan began to button back up his robe.

"I had to kiss it to be sure all the pain would be completely gone, da?" Ivan smiled innocently.

"Aiyah." Yao smiled softly at Ivan.  
"You seem to forget sometimes that I am not a child."

He gently had Ivan lay back down, as he himself sat up, and started to brush Ivan's bangs out of eyes.  
He gently leaned down, and kissed him on the forehead.  
"Thank you, aru." He spoke softly, a rare smile crossed his face.

No, it wasn't rare anymore.  
It made Ivan feel content, when he realized how often Yao would smile at him these days. It wasn't hard to make him smile anymore, like it was so many months ago.  
Yao was happy.

That was all that mattered to him.  
He just wanted Yao to be happy.

Yao at this point had laid back down, curled up softly, facing the other way.  
Ivan got slightly closer, and wrapped his arms back around him like they had been before.

"I love you, Yao." He informed softly.

Yao turned back to face Ivan.

"Say it the way I taught you," Yao said, pressing his forehead against his.

"Wǒ ài nǐ, Yao." Ivan said.

Ivan's eyes had slipped closed again, but he could hear the smile in Yao's gentle voice.

"I love you too, Ivan."

…

Yao never seemed to wake Ivan.  
He never had the heart to wake him up in the morning before he left, every time he spent the night with him. He said it was because of the way Ivan looked when he slept.

He claimed he looked innocent.  
Like an little angel.

Ivan liked it when Yao said things like that to him, it was different.  
Yao treated him special, his entire life he'd been treated like a monster something not of this earth, but Yao was gentle, and tended to treat him like a child, like he was innocent, and he didn't mind it.

He counted on it.

He sat at the edge of the bed.

He yawned.  
He always did miss Yao when he walked out on him on mornings like this one, but that was just who Yao was.  
And the separation wouldn't he be long.  
He knew that he would see Yao again soon.

He always did.

He looked over to the dresser at the end of the room.  
Yao had left a note.  
Over the time he'd known Yao, his politeness still hadn't faded.

The note simply said "thank you" .

Ivan rose, and filled a vase with water, bringing it to his dresser where Yao had left the note.  
Because as usual, Yao hadn't left just a note, he'd left the note, with the company of _a single flower._

_**A/N: Okay.  
Guys, that is now the official end. That was the epilogue! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited, and just read, in genral.  
I'm really grateful towards all the nice things you all have said about this. This was my first RoChu fanfiction with ongoing chapters, and I'm really happy to have gotten through with it, even though it all seems bitter sweet to me. Thank you all so much to all who supported me! This fanfiction meant a lot to me! I hope I didn't disappointed you too much with the ending, but I was pretty happy with how it all turned out.  
Thank you all again! If you want to review, and tell me what you thought, I would be gratful for that too. I hope to see you in the reviews, and whatever of my other work, I have much more to come. Until next time you guys!**_

~Raiden


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